Several lawmakers whose committees have jurisdiction over federal contracting matters roundly criticized interagency contracting practices after GAO found such contracts are poorly tracked and badly managed.
According to GAO’s report GAO-10-367, "Contracting Strategies: Data and Oversight Problems Hamper Opportunities to Leverage Value of Interagency and Enterprisewide Contracts," reliable and comprehensive data is missing on the number and use of interagency contracts, through which agencies purchase over $37 billion in goods and services each year.
GAO said no government-wide system exists to track the number of interagency contracts and thus poor oversight hampers the federal government’s ability to leverage its vast purchasing power.
The report was requested by the chair and ranking members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine., the chair and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Edolphus Towns, D-NY, and Darrell Issa, R-CA, and the chair of the Senate contracting oversight subcommittee, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
Lieberman and Collins called on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to better track interagency contracts, and said GSA must work to convince agencies it can get the best deals.
"The administration must take aggressive and coordinated action to address GAO’s recommendations and help ensure that taxpayer dollars are used wisely," Collins said.
Towns expressed disappointment, while Issa said GAO’s assessment should be viewed as a "catalyst for all agencies to reevaluate the way they do business with our largest government contractors." McCaskill plans to hold a hearing next month.
