Defense Acquisitions: Collection and Reporting of Information
Technology Purchases (28-JAN-02, GAO-02-331).
Recent legislation requires that, beginning in October 2001, the
Defense Department (DOD) collect procurement data on purchases of
information technology (IT) products and services worth more than
$100,000. DOD is required to issue its first annual report to
Congress by March 2001. GAO found that DOD is making good
progress in meeting the requirements of the legislation. DOD has
modified data collection systems to enable them to collect and
report mandated data. DOD officials see no obstacles to issuing
their first report on IT data collection efforts by the March
2002 deadline.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-02-331
ACCNO: A02676
TITLE: Defense Acquisitions: Collection and Reporting of
Information Technology Purchases
DATE: 01/28/2002
SUBJECT: Congressional committees
Data collection
Defense procurement
Information technology
Internal controls
Procurement evaluation
Reporting requirements
Defense Contract Action Data System
Federal Procurement Data System
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO Testimony. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
******************************************************************
GAO-02-331
United States General Accounting Office
GAO
Report to Congressional Committees
January 2002
DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS
Collection and Reporting of Information Technology Purchases
GAO-02-331
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548
Results in Brief
Background
January 28, 2002
Congressional Committees:
The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20011
directed the Secretary of Defense to collect specific procurement data2 on
the purchase of information technology (IT) products and services made by
the military services and defense agencies in excess of $100,000. The act
specified that data collection was to begin on October 30, 2001, and the
Secretary was to issue his first annual report to the Armed Services
Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives by March 15, 2002.
Section 812 also directed us to issue a report to the congressional defense
committees by January 31, 2002, assessing the progress the Department of
Defense (DOD) is making in complying with the act. This report responds to
that mandate.
DOD is making good progress in meeting congressional requirements. To date,
it has modified appropriate data collection systems to enable them to
collect and report all mandated data. Defense components and civilian
agencies have begun collecting all of the mandated data. DOD has also
implemented controls to maintain data integrity. Lastly, DOD officials see
no obstacles to issuing the Department's first report on IT data collection
efforts by the March 15, 2002, deadline.
We are not making recommendations in this report. In commenting on our
draft, DOD agreed with our findings.
The Senate Armed Services Committee Report3 on the fiscal year 2001 defense
authorization bill expressed concern that DOD had insufficient data
available to effectively support management decisions regarding its
purchases of IT products and services.4 As DOD was planning to spend
1 P. L. 106-398, section 812.
2 See appendix I for list of data to be collected.
3 Senate Report 106-292.
4 Historically, DOD IT purchases from civilian agencies were included in
government-wide data as civilian agency procurements.
Page 1 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
$20.3 billion on IT in fiscal year 2001, the Committee stated that it was
imperative that DOD have visibility over how these funds are spent.
The Conference Report5 associated with the act noted that the requirements
for collecting the mandate data would be met by incorporating new data
elements into the existing Defense Contract Action Data System (DCADS). This
is DOD's data collection system for reporting contract actions to the
Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).
Subsequent to Defense Acquisition Regulations Council approval, the Contract
Reporting Committee of the Council initiates all changes to DCADS. The
primary instrument used in collecting procurement data from defense
contracting offices worldwide is the Individual Contracting Action Report
(DD Form 350). This form must be completed and forwarded monthly to the
Washington Headquarters Services' Directorate for Information, Operations
and Reports (DIOR)6 for all procurement transactions in excess of $25,000.
DIOR is responsible for compiling and preparing procurement reports for the
Department.
Some civilian agencies will also collect the mandated data because they make
IT purchases with DOD funds. Such agencies report similar procurement data
to the FPDS on an Individual Contract Action Report (Standard Form 279).
Existing Data Collection Systems Modified to Meet Mandated Requirements
DOD began to initiate changes to the existing data collection systems
shortly after the act became law on October 30, 2000. Prior to the act, DOD,
and civilian agencies that purchased IT products and services for DOD,
collected most of the mandated data in the existing DCADS and FPDS systems.
During the past year, these systems were modified to collect centrally all
mandated IT procurement data elements and facilitate reporting. In making
these changes, the Contract Reporting Committee first revised the Defense
Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to capture all mandated IT data on
the DD Form 350.7 Second, the Committee worked with the FPDS Steering
Committee to revise the FPDS Reporting Manual. These revisions to the manual
modified the Standard Form 279-
5 House Report 106-945. 6 Washington Headquarters Services is a DOD agency.
7 Instructions for completing the DD Form 350 are in DFARS Part 253.204-70.
Page 2 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
the civilian counterpart to the DD Form 350-so that civilian agencies could
collect the mandated IT data.
Military services and defense and civilian agencies began collecting all
mandated IT data on October 1, 2001. As in the past, Army, Navy, Air Force,
and the Defense Logistics Agency will collect IT data independently through
DCADS and forward this data to DIOR monthly. All defense agencies except the
Defense Logistics Agency will continue to report similar data through the
Army.
Data Monitoring Efforts
Reporting of IT Data
Agency Comments
Scope and Methodology
DIOR has establishing an ongoing monitoring program to maintain integrity in
the collecting and reporting of IT data. Its efforts include performing edit
checks and tests of all incoming data, requesting and analyzing feedback
from field activities, and analyzing data in preparing
congressionally-mandated annual reports. DOD officials told us that this
type of monitoring is routinely performed whenever changes are made to the
DCADS system. DOD officials told us that all of these tasks have been
completed at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services,
and defense and civilian agencies.
As of January 14, 2001, a DIOR official said he saw no obstacles to prevent
the Department from issuing the first report on its IT data collection
efforts by March 15, 2002, as mandated in the act. The Secretary of Defense
will issue this report to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and
House of Representatives. DIOR officials envision the report as presenting a
status of the Department's efforts to implement section 812 of the act as
well as most IT procurement data for fiscal year 2001. Subsequent reports
will contain IT procurement data for all elements mandated by the act.
In providing oral comments on a draft of this report, DOD agreed with our
findings.
To determine the extent to which DOD had implemented
congressionally-mandated changes, we met with members of the Contract
Reporting Committee of the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council and DIOR
officials. In addition, to determine implementation status at the military
services and defense agencies, we met with officials from the Army, Navy,
Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency.
Page 3 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
To ascertain that applicable changes have been made to facilitate the
collection of IT data, we reviewed the revised Defense Federal Acquisition
Regulation Supplement and DOD's revised Individual Contracting Action Report
(DD Form 350). We also reviewed the revised FPDS Reporting Manual and the
revised FPDS Individual Contract Action Report (Standard Form 279).
We did not validate the DCADS and FPDS systems or edit checks related to IT
purchases, nor did we review any mandated IT data that was collected by the
military services and defense agencies.
We conducted our review between November 2001 and January 2002 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
We are sending copies to the Secretaries of Defense, the Army, the Navy,
the Air Force; the Director, Defense Logistics Agency; and the Director,
Office of Management and Budget. We will also make copies available to
others upon request.
Please contact me at (202) 512-4125 or Catherine Baltzell at (202) 512-8001
if you have any questions regarding this report. Major contributors to this
report include William M. McPhail.
Sincerely yours,
David E. Cooper
Director
Acquisition and Sourcing Management
Page 4 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
List of Congressional Committees
The Honorable Carl Levin
Chairman
The Honorable John Warner
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate
The Honorable Bob Stump
Chairman
The Honorable Ike Skelton
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Armed Services
House of Representatives
The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
Chairman
The Honorable Ted Stevens
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Defense
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
The Honorable Jerry Lewis
Chairman
The Honorable John P. Murtha
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Defense
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Page 5 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
Appendix I: Information Technology Data Mandated to Be Collected
The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2001, section 812, subsection (b) states that the Secretary of Defense
must collect the following data for each purchase of IT products or
services made by a military department or defense agency in excess of the
simplified acquisition threshold-currently $100,000.
* The products or services purchased.
* Whether the products or services are categorized as commercially available
off-the-shelf items, other commercial items, non-developmental items other
than commercial items, or other noncommercial items or services.
* The total dollar amount of the purchase.
* The form of contracting action used to make the purchase.
* In the case of a purchase made through an agency other than the Department
of Defense
* the agency through which the purchase is made and
* the reasons for making the purchase through that agency.
* The type of pricing used to make the purchase (whether fixed price or
another type of pricing).
* The extent of competition provided in making the purchase.
* A statement regarding whether the purchase was made from
* a small business concern,
* a small business concern owned and controlled by socially and economically
disadvantaged individuals, or
* a small business concern owned and controlled by women.
* A statement regarding whether the purchase was made in compliance with the
planning requirements under sections 5122 and 5123 of the Clinger-Cohen Act
of 1996 (40 U. S. C. 1422 and 1423).
(120118) Page 6 GAO-02-331 IT Procurement Data
GAO's Mission
Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, exists to
support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help
improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the
American people. GAO examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal
programs and policies; and provides analyses, recommendations, and other
assistance to help Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding
decisions. GAO's commitment to good government is reflected in its core
values of accountability, integrity, and reliability.
The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents is through the
Internet. GAO's Web site (www.gao.gov) contains abstracts and full-text
files of current reports and testimony and an expanding archive of older
products. The Web site features a search engine to help you locate documents
using key words and phrases. You can print these documents in their
entirety, including charts and other graphics.
Each day, GAO issues a list of newly released reports, testimony, and
correspondence. GAO posts this list, known as "Today's Reports," on its Web
site daily. The list contains links to the full-text document files. To have
GAO e-mail this list to you every afternoon, go to www.gao.gov and select
"Subscribe to daily e-mail alert for newly released products" under the GAO
Reports heading.
Order by Mail or Phone The first copy of each printed report is free.
Additional copies are $2 each. A check or money order should be made out to
the Superintendent of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard.
Orders for 100 or more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25
percent. Orders should be sent to:
U.S. General Accounting Office P.O. Box 37050 Washington, D.C. 20013
To order by Phone: Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
512-6061
Visit GAO's Document GAO Building
Distribution Center Room 1100, 700 4th Street, NW (corner of 4th and G
Streets, NW) Washington, D.C. 20013
To Report Fraud, Contact: Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm,
Waste, and Abuse in E-mail: [email protected], or
Federal Programs 1-800-424-5454 or (202) 512-7470 (automated answering
system).
Jeff Nelligan, Managing Director, [email protected] (202) 512-4800
Public Affairs U.S. General Accounting Office, 441 G. Street NW, Room 7149,
Washington, D.C. 20548
*** End of document. ***