Contract Management: DOD Begins New Effort to Improve Reporting of
Contract Service Costs (Letter Report, 10/13/1999, GAO/NSIAD-00-29).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the
actions taken by the Department of Defense (DOD) to improve the accuracy
of its cost reporting for contract services.

GAO noted that: (1) DOD has taken a number of steps intended to improve
the accuracy of costs reported for contract services but recognizes more
needs to be done; (2) in an effort to achieve greater accuracy and
consistency in reporting costs Department-wide, in November 1998 it
provided guidance to the military services and Defense agencies on
identifying and reporting contract service costs; (3) this guidance
included specific examples of the types of services that DOD had
determined were being erroneously included in the miscellaneous service
category, along with direction on the correct category in which to
report those services; (4) for example, it stated that environmental
restoration and pollution prevention costs were not to be reported in
the miscellaneous category but rather in the land and structure
category; (5) following this guidance, DOD reported that the military
services and Defense agencies realigned about $30 billion of the fiscal
year 1998 costs that had been incorrectly reported in the miscellaneous
service category to other categories they determined were more
appropriate; (6) despite these efforts, DOD officials stated that they
could not ensure the accuracy of the classification of contract service
costs reported for advisory and assistance services because of
inconsistencies in reporting by the military services; (7) in its 1999
report to Congress, the Department also expressed concern about the
difficulty in distinguishing between advisory and assistance services
and other contract service costs and recommended revising the way
contract service costs are reported; (8) DOD recommended that they
identify what the contract service supports rather than identifying the
type of service provided such as advisory and assistance services; (9)
DOD's recommendation, as presented in its report, would represent a
major change in how contract service costs are reported; and (10) the
change may not provide the visibility Congress desires over contract
services, if all contract service costs are classified according to what
they support rather than the type of service provided, DOD, however, has
not provided specific details regarding this recommendation, and
according to officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the
Department does not expect to provide such details until the spring or
summer of 2000.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  NSIAD-00-29
     TITLE:  Contract Management: DOD Begins New Effort to Improve
	     Reporting of Contract Service Costs
      DATE:  10/13/1999
   SUBJECT:  Department of Defense contractors
	     Consultants
	     Service contracts
	     Reporting requirements
	     Financial management
	     Contract costs
	     Cost accounting

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Report to Congressional Committees

October 1999

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

DOD Begins New Effort to Improve Reporting of Contract Service
Costs
*****************

*****************

GAO/NSIAD-00-29

 

Letter                                                                     3

Appendixes

Appendix I:Contract Services

                                                                         14

Appendix II:Exemptions to Reporting Advisory and Assistance Services

                                                                         17

Appendix III:GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

                                                                         19

Table 1:  DOD's Realignment of Costs From the Miscellaneous
Services Category                                7

Figure 1:  DOD's Reported Contract Services in Fiscal Year 19985

DOD     Department of Defense

 DOD Consulting Services: Erroneous Accounting and Reporting of Costs
                                                      National Security and
                                             International Affairs Division

B-282596

October 13, 1999

Congressional Committees

Although the Department of Defense (DOD) is increasing its reliance on
contractor support, long-standing concerns exist regarding the accuracy
and reliability of its accounting for the costs of contract services,
particularly advisory and assistance services./Footnote1/ Congress has
expressed its concern that without accurate and reliable data in this
area, appropriate oversight may be hampered. In May 1998, we reported that
the Army had erroneously included costs for some advisory and assistance
services in the miscellaneous service budget category and that the
miscellaneous category comprised a large portion of total contract
services-$47 billion out of
$96 billion in fiscal year 1996./Footnote2/ In fiscal year 1998, reported
contract service costs totaled about $90 billion. In 1998, Congress
imposed a statutory limit on the percentage of total contract service
costs that may be reported in the miscellaneous category./Footnote3/ This
limit was set at 30 percent of total contract service costs in fiscal year
2000 and at 15 percent in 2001 and thereafter. Additionally, Congress
required (1) DOD to review and report annually on its proposed budget
submission to ensure that contract services meeting the definition of
advisory and assistance services are properly classified and (2) that we
review DOD's report. Our objective for this report was to determine the
actions taken by DOD to improve the accuracy of its reporting of costs for
contract services.

Results in Brief

DOD has taken a number of steps intended to improve the accuracy of costs
reported for contract services but recognizes more needs to be done. In an
effort to achieve greater accuracy and consistency in reporting costs
Department-wide, in November 1998 it provided guidance to the military
services and Defense agencies on identifying and reporting contract
service costs. This guidance included specific examples of the types of
services that DOD had determined were being erroneously included in the
miscellaneous service category, along with direction on the correct
category in which to report those services. For example, it stated that
environmental restoration and pollution prevention costs were not to be
reported in the miscellaneous category but rather in the land and
structure category. Following this guidance, DOD reported that the
military services and Defense agencies realigned about $30 billion of the
fiscal year 1998 costs that had been incorrectly reported in the
miscellaneous service category to other categories they determined were
more appropriate.

Despite these efforts, DOD officials stated that they could not ensure the
accuracy of the classification of contract service costs reported for
advisory and assistance services because of inconsistencies in reporting
by the military services. In its 1999 report to Congress, the Department
also expressed concern about the difficulty in distinguishing between
advisory and assistance services and other contract service costs and
recommended revising the way contract service costs are reported. DOD
recommended that they identify what the contract service supports rather
than identifying the type of service provided such as advisory and
assistance services. DOD's recommendation, as presented in its report,
would represent a major change in how contract service costs are reported.
The change may not provide the visibility Congress desires over contract
services, if all contract service costs are classified according to what
they support rather than the type of service provided. DOD, however, has
not provided specific details regarding this recommendation, and according
to officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department
does not expect to provide such details until the spring or summer of 2000. 

Background 

DOD reports actual and estimated future costs/Footnote4/ for contract
services using the object class structure provided in Office of Management
and Budget Circular A-11. This structure identifies costs for each
government account according to the nature of the goods or services
purchased. Contract services are reported in the object class 25 series--
other contractual services--under one of several categories. Figure 1
shows DOD's reported costs for contract services, which totaled $90.5
billion in fiscal year 1998. See appendix I for a description of the
categories for contract services.

Figure****Helvetica:x11****1:    DOD's Reported Contract Services in
                                 Fiscal Year 1998 

*****************

*****************

a This covers four contract service categories: operation and maintenance
of facilities, operation and maintenance of equipment, medical care, and
subsistence and support of persons.

b Purchases from other government agencies.

c This covers miscellaneous services (also called other services), which
include services that do not fit within one of the other remaining
contract service categories.

Source: Federal budget, fiscal year 2000/2001 and DOD's June 1999 report
to Congress.

There are three categories of advisory and assistance services:
(1) management and professional support services; (2) studies, analyses,
and evaluations; and (3) engineering and technical services. In addition
to requiring DOD to report on the accuracy of advisory and assistance
service costs and limiting the amounts reported under miscellaneous
services, the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 1999 provided specific definitions for these three categories. The
act also provided a list of services that are exempt from classification
as advisory and assistance services such as certain systems engineering
and technical services. The exemptions are summarized in appendix II. 

Steps Taken to Improve Accounting for Contract Services; but Further
Efforts Needed

DOD has taken steps to improve reporting of contract service costs but has
also acknowledged that further efforts are required. In its June 1999
report, Report to Congress on Improved Accounting for Defense Contract
Services, DOD stated that it had reviewed the costs reported for
miscellaneous services to determine whether they had been properly
classified. Specifically, DOD and service officials stated that they had
reviewed miscellaneous service costs for fiscal year 1998 and found that
costs for certain types of services such as environmental restoration had
been reported inconsistently or had been erroneously included in the
miscellaneous services category. To correct reporting errors and provide
greater consistency throughout the Department in reporting contract
service costs, the DOD Comptroller issued guidance in November 1998 that
provided specific directions as to the proper category in which these
services should be reported. The guidance required the military services
to realign certain costs from the miscellaneous service category to other
categories.

Officials from the DOD Comptroller's office stated that they provided the
guidance on realigning the miscellaneous category to DOD and military
service components and relied on the components to make the necessary
adjustments. The Comptroller's office did not attempt to verify the
adjustments. DOD and service officials responsible for providing the data
told us that the realignment of the miscellaneous costs was made under
tight time constraints, sometimes with limited data. In some instances,
the realignment was based on telephone calls to program offices and on
quick analyses, while in others cases, budget officials and analysts were
left to estimate, without program office input, which costs should go in
other categories. Officials in the military services acknowledged that
their methodology was not the best but added that it was the best they
could do under the time constraints stipulated for the review. We did not
independently assess the accuracy of the adjustments. However, some DOD
and service officials told us that they could not ensure the accuracy of
the revised accounting for contract services.

After this effort, DOD reported that it had reduced the costs included in
the miscellaneous service category, which in prior years accounted for
about 50 percent of total contract services. Specifically, in fiscal year
1998, it reported that miscellaneous services, as realigned, were about 17
percent of total reported costs for contract services. DOD anticipates
costs in the miscellaneous service category will comprise about 15 and 14
percent of total reported costs for contract services in 1999 and 2000,
respectively. The 14-percent amount is below the 30-percent limit Congress
stipulated for fiscal year 2000.

DOD further reported that amounts for the miscellaneous service category
in the fiscal year 2000/2001 budget decreased significantly below the
amount in the miscellaneous service category in the fiscal year 1999
President's budget. As shown in table 1, DOD reported a decrease in the
miscellaneous service category of about $30 billion for fiscal year 1998
and about $33 billion for fiscal year 1999. It stated that this decrease
was offset by increases in other object classes it deemed more
appropriately describe the costs involved. Most of the adjustments were
made within the contract service object class; however, some costs were
realigned to other object classes. 

Table****Helvetica:x11****1:    DOD's Realignment of Costs From the
                                Miscellaneous Services Category

------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dollars in millions                   :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Categories                            :  Fiscal year :  Fiscal year  |
|                                       :         1998 :         1999  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Miscellaneous services (total         :      -30,075 :      -33,456  |
| decrease)                             :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Increase in contract services object  :              :               |
| class                                 :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Advisory and assistance services      :      + 1,141 :      + 1,009  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Purchases from government accounts    :       +3,903 :       +3,276  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Operations and maintenance of         :       +4,383 :       +3,799  |
| facilities                            :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Research and development contracts    :      +10,565 :       +9,702  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Medical care                          :       +1,553 :       +2,573  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Operations and maintenance of         :       +4,972 :       +5,927  |
| equipment                             :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Subsistence/support of persons        :         +150 :         +151  |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Increase in object classes outside    :       +3,409 :       +7,017  |
| contract services                     :              :               |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Total increase in other contract      :      +30,076 :    +33,454^a  |
| services categories and other object  :              :               |
| classes                               :              :               |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

a Amounts do not total due to rounding.

Source: DOD's June 1999 report to Congress.

Despite these efforts, DOD and military service officials recognize that
the Department's reporting will continue to contain some errors and
inconsistencies. DOD acknowledged this in its June 1999 report to
Congress, stating that its review "demonstrated that the current system
for reporting these costs had been and will probably continue to be
unsuccessful--due to difficulty in identifying and valuing the service
provided by contractors." DOD officials stated that they could not ensure
the accuracy of the accounting for contract service costs, particularly
advisory and assistance service costs, because of inconsistencies in
reporting by the military services. For example, some service officials
used the exemptions for advisory and assistance service categories
stipulated in the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 1999, while others did not. We were told that although the
statutory changes to the definition of advisory and assistance services
and the exemptions were passed in September 1998, many budget numbers had
already been submitted using the existing Office of Management and Budget
definitions and exemptions. While many of the statutory exemptions are
also contained in the Office of Management and Budget's Circular, there
are some differences that could lead to changes in the way certain types
of contract services (such as automated data processing) will be reported
in the future. DOD officials stated that they were working to provide
consistent guidance in this area. Regarding the accuracy of reported
advisory and assistance service costs, DOD Comptroller officials stated
that time did not allow for a complete budgetary analysis or review of
contract service costs to ensure reliability. /Footnote5/

Our work identified instances in which some contract service costs were
not properly reported in the June 1999 report to Congress. For example,
the Defense Logistics Agency reported $18.6 million in advisory and
assistance services under miscellaneous services for fiscal year 1998
because its guidance erroneously stated that these costs should be
reported under the miscellaneous category. In another instance, an
official from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency told us that the agency
had not reported some contract service costs in fiscal year 1998 due to a
misinterpretation of the guidance. We were told that these errors would be
corrected in the future.

DOD Recommends Change to Improve Reporting of Contract Service Costs

DOD has recommended changing the reporting structure for contract services
by revising the object class categories found in Office of Management and
Budget Circular A-11. In its June 1999 report to Congress, DOD recommended
that the object class structure be revised to identify what a specific
contract service supports (for example, weapon systems) rather than
identifying what the service is (such as advisory and assistance services'
analyses or evaluations). DOD's report stated that this type of
information would provide more accurate and useful data. According to DOD
and service officials, this information could provide greater visibility
on what the contract service was for and where the impact of a funding cut
would occur. 

While we agree that it would be beneficial to know how much the government
spends to support specific programs and functions, DOD's recommendation,
as presented in its report, would represent a major change in how contract
service costs are reported. The change may not provide the visibility
Congress desires over contract services if all contract service costs are
classified according to what they support rather than by the type of
service provided. DOD has offered to work with the various interested
congressional committees and the Office of Management and Budget on this
effort with the objective of improving the relevance of the data for both
Congress and the executive branch. DOD, however, has not provided
specifics regarding its recommendation and, according to officials from
the Office of the Secretary of Defense, is not expected to do so until the
spring or summer of 2000.

Agency Comments

We provided a draft of this report to DOD for formal review and comment.
In its oral reply, DOD said that it had no substantive comments. It,
however, provided one technical comment about how we characterized costs
reported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. We have incorporated
DOD's suggestion in this report.

Scope and Methodology

We performed our work at the Office of the Secretary of Defense
Comptroller's office and at the offices of DOD and service components that
use advisory and assistance services and miscellaneous services. These
include the Air Force's Air Force Material Command and Aeronautical
Systems Center; the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Air Systems
Command, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Office of Naval
Research, and U.S. Pacific and Atlantic Fleets; the Army's Office of the
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and
Technology, and Communications and Electronics Command; and the Defense
Information Systems Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the
Defense Logistics Agency, the Joint Staff, and the Defense Threat
Reduction Agency.

To identify actions taken to improve reporting for contract service costs,
we interviewed officials from the above activities responsible for
managing and reporting on contract services. Among other things, we
obtained information regarding the methodology used to develop the June
1999 report, titled Report to Congress on Improved Accounting for Defense
Contract Services, including DOD directives and the services' instructions
for identifying, tracking, and reporting advisory and assistance services
costs and costs reported for other or miscellaneous services. We also
(1) identified differences between current and prior years' methodology to
identify advisory and assistance services; (2) compared data in DOD's
Budget Reporting System with data in the advisory and assistance services'
budget exhibit to Congress to determine whether such costs were properly
reported in the June 1999 report to Congress; (3) obtained views from the
Office of Management and Budget, DOD, and service components regarding
reporting requirements and the recommendation included in the June 1999
report to Congress; and (4) obtained service headquarters and field views
on the process by which the budget data for contract services was
developed, including how costs were realigned from the miscellaneous
service category.

We conducted our work from April 1999 through September 1999 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.

We are sending copies of this report to the Honorable William S. Cohen,
Secretary of Defense; Lieutenant General Henry T. Glisson, Director,
Defense Logistics Agency; the Honorable Louis Caldera, Secretary of the
Army; the Honorable Richard Danzig, Secretary of the Navy; and the
Honorable F. Whitten Peters, Secretary of the Air Force. We will also make
copies available to others on request.

GAO contacts and major contributors to this report are listed in appendix
III.

*****************

*****************

David E. Cooper
Associate Director
Defense Acquisitions Issues

Congressional Committees
------------------------

The Honorable John W. Warner
Chairman
The Honorable Carl Levin
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate

The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman
The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye
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

The Honorable Floyd D. Spence
Chairman
The Honorable Ike Skelton
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Armed Services
House of Representatives

--------------------------------------
/Footnote1/-^Contract services are services, for example, provided by
  contractors to assist program offices in a variety of ways and to
  maintain equipment and facilities. There are eight categories of
  contract services, including (1) advisory and assistance services, which
  include services to support policy development, decision-making, or
  program management; (2) research and development services; and (3)
  miscellaneous services--a broad category of services that do not fit
  within one of the other categories. See appendix I for definitions of
  all eight categories. 
/Footnote2/-^(GAO/NSIAD-98-136, May 18, 1998).
/Footnote3/-^ Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
  Year 1999, section 911.
/Footnote4/-^ The Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-11 refers
  to "obligations", both planned and actual obligations, which are the
  amounts of orders placed, contracts awarded, services received, and
  similar actions requiring payments. For simplicity, we have used the
  term "costs" throughout the remainder of this report.
/Footnote5/-^ In addition, in our most recent audit of the federal
  government's 1998 consolidated financial statements, we reported that
  DOD's financial management systems do not capture the full cost of its
  activities and programs. Specifically, we reported that DOD is unable to
  provide actual data on the costs associated with functions. Department
  of Defense: Status of Financial Management Weaknesses and Actions Needed
  to Correct Continuing Challenges (GAO/T-AIMD/NSIAD-99-171, May 4, 1999).

CONTRACT SERVICES
=================

Obligations for goods and services purchased by the Department of Defense
(DOD) are reported using the object class structure specified in Office of
Management and Budget Circular A-11. There are five major groupings of
object classes in the circular: (1) personal services and benefits, (2)
contractual services and supplies, (3) acquisition of assets, (4) grants
and fixed charges, and
(5) other. Defense contract services, as defined in the 1999 Defense
Authorization Act,/Footnote1/ are a subset of the contractual services and
supplies category. Specifically, contract services are those contracts
included in the other contractual services object class--object class 25.
There are eight categories included under contract services. A brief
summary of each follows.

o   Advisory and assistance services--object class 25.1. Services
  acquired by contract from nongovernmental sources to provide management
  and professional support; studies, analyses, and evaluations; or
  engineering and technical services.

o   Other services (often called miscellaneous services)--object class
  25.2. Services not otherwise classified as either advisory and
  assistance services or any of the other service categories included
  under contract services--object class 25.

o   Purchases of goods and services from government accounts--object
  class 25.3. Purchases from other government agencies or accounts that
  are not otherwise classified. Includes rental payments to agencies
  other than the General Services Administration and interagency
  agreements for contractual services. Excludes, among other things,
  advisory and assistance services obtained through interagency contracts.

o   Operation and maintenance of facilities--object class 25.4. Includes
  the operation and maintenance of facilities, when done by contract. 

o   Research and development contracts--object class 25.5. Includes
  contractor services for conducting basic and applied research and
  development. Excludes research and development reported as advisory and
  assistance services or operation and maintenance of research and
  development facilities.

o   Medical care--object class 25.6. Payments to contractors for medical
  care.

o   Operation and maintenance of equipment--object class 25.7. Contractor
  services for operation, maintenance, repair, and storage of equipment,
  when done by contract. Includes storage and care of vehicles, storage
  of household goods, and operation and maintenance of information
  technology systems.

o   Subsistence and support of persons--object class 25.8. Contractual
  services with the public or another federal government agency for
  board, lodging, and care of persons, including prisoners.

The Office of Management and Budget defined advisory and assistance
services as follows:

"Obligations for advisory and assistance services acquired by contract
from non-governmental sources to support or improve organization policy
development, decision-making, management, and administration; support
program and/or project management and administration; provide management
and support services for R&D [research and development] activities;
provide engineering and technical support services; or improve the
effectiveness of management processes or procedures. Such services may
take the form of information, advice, opinions, alternatives, analyses,
evaluations, recommendations, training, and technical support. Also
includes inter-agency agreements for advisory and assistance services. 

"Excludes information technology consulting services, which have large
scale systems acquisition and integration or large scale software
development as their primary focus--both of which are to be classified
under object class 31.0 [for equipment]. Also excludes personnel
appointments and advisory committees, which are classified under object
class 11.3 [for other than full-time permanent personnel]. Also excludes
obligations for contracts with the private sector for operation and
maintenance of information technology and telecommunication services,
which are to be classified under object class 25.7 [for operation and
maintenance of equipment]; architectural and engineering services as
defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation****Symbol:xbc****; and
research on theoretical mathematics and basic medical, biological,
physical, social, psychological, or other phenomena. Other contractual
services classified in object classes 25.2 through 25.8, and 26.0 are
excluded.(c)

The definition further provided three categories of advisory and
assistance services. They were (1) management and professional support
services;
(2) studies, analyses, and evaluations; and (3) engineering and technical
services. In September 1998, Congress provided a new, but similar
definition for each of these three categories of advisory and assistance
services./Footnote2/ Further, the act provided that those services
authorized to be exempted from reporting in the advisory and assistance
service category would be those identified as exemptions in enclosure 3 of
DOD Directive 4205.2 titled Acquiring and Managing Contract Advisory and
Assistance Services, dated February 10, 1992. While many of these
exemptions parallel those provided for in Office of Management and Budget
Circular A-11, there are some differences. We were told that the
Department was working to provide consistent guidance in this area. 

--------------------------------------
/Footnote1/-^Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
  Year 1999, section 911.
/Footnote2/-^Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
  Year 1999, section 911.

EXEMPTIONS TO REPORTING ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES
========================================================

The 1999 Defense Authorization Act states that there are certain
authorized exemptions to reporting advisory and assistance
services./Footnote1/ Specifically, the act states that 

"the term `authorized exemptions' means those exemptions authorized (as of
the date of the enactment of this section) under Department of Defense
Directive 4205.2, captioned `Acquiring and Managing Contracted Advisory
and Assistance Services (CAAS)' and issued by the Under Secretary of
Defense for Acquisition and Technology on February 10,
1992****Symbol:xbc****.(c)

The exemptions referred to in that directive are:

o   activities that are reviewed and/or acquired through Office of
  Management and Budget Circular A-76;

o   architectural and engineering services for construction and
  construction management services procured in accordance with Federal
  Acquisition Regulation Part 36 [reference (e)];

o   day-to-day operation of facilities and housekeeping services and
  functions;

o   routine maintenance of systems, equipment, and software; routine
  administrative services; printing services; and direct advertising
  (media) services;

o   initial training services acquired as an integral part of the
  procurement of weapon systems, automated data processing systems,
  equipment or components, and training obtained for individual
  professional development;

o   basic operation and management contracts for government-owned,
  contractor-operated facilities;

o   clinical and medical services for direct health care;

o   automated data processing and/or telecommunication functions and
  related services controlled in accordance with the Federal Information
  Resources Management Regulation;

o   automated data processing and/or telecommunications functions and
  related services exempted from the Federal Information Resources
  Management Regulation;

o   services supporting the policy development, management, and
  administration of the Foreign Military Sales Program that are not paid
  for with funds appropriated by Congress;

o   services (for example, systems engineering and technical services)
  acquired by or for a program office to increase the design performance
  capabilities of existing or new systems or services that are integral
  to the logistics support and maintenance of a system or major component
  and/or end item of equipment essential to the operation of the systems
  before final government acceptance of a complete hardware system;

o   research on theoretical mathematics and basic medical, biological,
  physical, social, psychological, or other phenomena;

o   auctioneers, realty brokers, appraisers, and surveyors; and

o   services procured with funds from the Defense Environmental
  Restoration Account.

--------------------------------------
/Footnote1/-^ Section 911, the Strom Thurmond National Defense
  Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999.

GAO CONTACTS AND STAFF ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
======================================

GAO Contacts

David E. Cooper (202) 512-4841
Ralph Dawn (202) 512-4544

Acknowledgments

In addition to those named above, Marion A. Gatling, Roy Karadbil,
Stephanie J. May, Maria Storts, and William T. Woods made key
contributions to this report.

(707409)

*** End of document. ***