United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-10-09 monographic deposited born digital 18 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-150 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150 P0b002ee1803a5100 f:d03150 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150 GAO-03-150 Department of Defense contractors Performance measures Defense agreements Defense procurement Procurement regulations Voluntary compliance Other Written Product A05270

In April 2000, GAO reported on the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of Section 845 agreements, also referred to as "other transactions" for prototype projects. These are transactions other than contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements that generally are not subject to federal laws and regulations applicable to procurement contracts. In December 2000, DOD revised its Section 845 guide. The guide specifies when Section 845 agreements may be used and provides criteria for tailoring terms and conditions for each agreement. Officials from the military services and defense agencies have found the new guide useful and a significant improvement over the prior version. The Secretary of Defense has required a metric--the number of participating nontraditional defense contractors--which is measurable and directly related to each agreement. This metric is tracked and reported internally. DOD explored additional metrics, but concluded that the number of nontraditional contractors was the only one that was quantifiable and tied directly to Section 845 outcomes. DOD's annual report to Congress on Section 845 agreements consists of summaries on each agreement. However, the key metric--the number of nontraditional contractors--is not clearly presented in these reports, making it difficult to gauge DOD's progress in achieving success on this objective. Further, DOD is not regularly assessing reporting on the benefits derived from completed Section 845 projects. In the absence of such assessments, congressional and DOD decision makers lack a vital piece of information that would help them determine whether this flexible procurement authority is achieving expecting results. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150.pdf GAO-03-150 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-150 Other Written Product GAO-03-150; Defense Acquisitions: DOD Has Implemented Section 845 Recommendations but Reporting Can Be Enhanced; Department of Defense contractors Performance measures Defense agreements Defense procurement Procurement regulations Voluntary compliance Title 10 Section 2371 10 U.S.C. 2371 Title 41 Section 414 41 U.S.C. 414 Public Law 103-160 S. Rept. 106-50 S. Rept. 106-292