In its efforts to meet small business contracting goals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives neglected proper market research and record-keeping before awarding sole-source contracts, a watchdog found.
“Proper documentation is necessary to show that ATF safeguarded federal funds, furthered the purpose of small business programs, and complied with sole-source contracting authorities,” wrote the Justice Department inspector general in a report released on March 14th.
“ATF did not maintain complete contract files and could not demonstrate that it had conducted required market research before awarding several sole-source contracts,” auditors found in a review of 16 sole-source contracts totaling $56 million to nine small businesses in 2016-2017.
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