Eighty percent of spending on the non-defense side was done competitively but only 52 percent on the defense side. Image: Artem Avetisyan/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffGAO’s latest accounting of federal agency spending on contracts shows a decrease in fiscal 2021 over 2020 of $54 billion to $637 billion, with defense agencies accounting for about 60 percent.
Among defense agencies, spending was about evenly split between services and products. The top five services for them were engineering/technical professional support, medical/general heath care, miscellaneous professional support, logistics support and maintenance/repair/rebuild of equipment. The top five products were drugs and biologicals, fixed wing aircraft, combat ships and vessels, guided missiles and rotary wing aircraft.
Among non-defense agencies, spending on services exceeded spending on products by a margin of four to one. The top five services were miscellaneous professional support, operations of buildings, operations of R&D facilities, engineering/technical professional support, and IT/telecom. The top five products were drugs and biologicals, precious metals primary forms, medical and surgical instruments, equipment and supplies, fruits and vegetables, and IT software.
Eighty percent of spending on the non-defense side was done competitively but only 52 percent on the defense side; in both cases fixed-price contracts were the most used, followed by cost-reimbursement contracts and time & material/labor hour contracts.
Across all agencies, COVID-19-related spending increased from $35 billion to $52 billion, with drugs and biologicals comprising the top products purchased by both defense and civilian agencies.
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