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 2003-05-22 monographic deposited born digital 8 p. GA 1.13:GAO-03-674R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R P0b002ee1803904f3 f:d03674r DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R GAO-03-674R Service contracts Defense cost control Defense procurement Procurement policy Procurement practices Correspondence A06969

The Department of Defense (DOD) spent about $93 billion in fiscal year 2002 to acquire various types of services, such as base operations, logistical support, and information technology. To achieve greater cost savings and better outcomes when agencies acquire these and other services, Congress and the executive branch have encouraged greater use of performance-based contracting. Performance-based contracts specify the desired outcomes and allow the contractors to determine how best to achieve those outcomes, rather than prescribe the methods contractors should use. In October 2000, Congress sought to provide an incentive for the use of performance-based contracts through legislation giving DOD temporary authority to treat certain performance-based service contracts as contracts for commercial items. Contracts for commercial items may be awarded using streamlined procedures under Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This authority is scheduled to expire in October 2003. As required by the October 2000 legislation, we reviewed DOD's implementation of the temporary authority, including the interim and final implementing regulations, public comments on the interim regulation, and other DOD documents. We also discussed with DOD officials the extent to which the authority had been used. We conducted our review from September 2002 through February 2003 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R.pdf GAO-03-674R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-03-674R Correspondence GAO-03-674R; Use of Legislative Incentive for Performance-Based Contracting Unknown; Service contracts Defense cost control Defense procurement Procurement policy Procurement practices Title 41 Section 403 41 U.S.C. 403 Public Law 106-398