OIG | The Contracting Education Academy

August 12, 2015 By AMK

DoD OIG: Marine Corps program met acquisition guidelines intent, but evaluation plan not in place

Initial production was begun on a Marine Corps acquisition before a test and evaluation plan was in place.

That is the finding of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Defense (DoD) in an audit report issued August 6, 2015.

The OIG’s audit objective was to determine if the Marine Corps was effectively managing the Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) project during the initial production phase. The OIG evaluated the production plan for initial production units and planned developmental testing.

The OIG found the Marine Corps generally managed the G/ATOR program in accordance with Defense acquisition guidelines in that G/ATOR Program Management Office (PMO) officials implemented reliability improvements, planned new semiconductor technology that should reduce costs and improve performance, and obtained the milestone decision authority approval for increased initial production quantities.

However, on March 10, 2014, the milestone decision authority approved the G/ATOR system to begin initial production without an approved Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP). Officials from G/ATOR PMO and the test community stated that they were coordinating to include the test strategy for new semiconductor technology and a clarified operational reliability requirement in the TEMP.

As a result of the audit, G/ATOR PMO officials plan to complete the TEMP before developmental testing begins in the second quarter FY 2017. Until the TEMP is updated to include the test strategy for new semiconductor technology and a clarified operational reliability requirement, the G/ATOR program is not ready for additional testing.

View the full audit report at: http://www.dodig.mil/pubs/documents/DODIG-2015-158.pdf

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the

August 3, 2015 By AMK

USDOT’s IG says department does not fully comply with contract closeout requirements

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a report on July 23, 2015 revealing that foursome of its operating administrations — involving highway, aviation, traffic safety, and the Office of the Secretary — do not uniformly comply with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and departmental contract closeout requirements.

Contract closeout is an important contract administration procedure that involves verifying that goods and services were provided as intended, validating final costs and payments, and freeing excess funds for possible use elsewhere. Timely and effective closeout ultimately protects the government’s interests and helps agencies efficiently manage residual contract funds.

In its report, the OIG found that USDOT does not fully ensure that its operating administrations comply with federal and departmental closeout requirements. The OIG reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Office of the Secretary (OST) and found that they did not fully comply with closeout requirements and frequently did not close out contracts in a timely fashion. Specifically, 42 of the 58 closed contracts in the OIG’s audit sample were not closed out within FAR and Acquisition Management System time frames. In addition, the OIG’s review of selected NHTSA and OST contracts files found a lack of evidence that four key contract closeout steps were completed. Finally, because contract files were not always properly maintained, FAA, FHWA, NHTSA, and OST were unable to locate the files for 21 percent of the 120 total contracts in our audit samples.

The Department concurred with all five of the OIG’s recommendations to help improve USDOT’s compliance with contract closeout requirements.

A copy of the OIG report can be found at: https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/DOT%20Contract%20Closeout%20Process%20Final%20Report%5E7-23-15.pdf

Source: https://www.oig.dot.gov/library-item/32578

May 18, 2015 By AMK

IG finds both agency implementation and SBA oversight of WOSB program to be flawed

Federal agencies’ contracting officers are awarding set-aside contracts without meeting the set-aside requirements associated with the Small Business Administration’s Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program.

This finding, among others, appears in a report issued on May 14, 2015 by the SBA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG report states that as much as $7.1 million worth of contracts received by WOSBs in fiscal year (FY) 2014 may be improper. For example, 10 of 34 WOSB set-aside awards were for ineligible work, and 9 of these 34 were awarded to firms that did not provide required documentation to prove they were eligible WOSBs.

In addition to the 9 WOSB awards that did not have any ownership or control documentation in the SBA’s WOSB Repository, the OIG identified 13 of 25 firms in their audit sample that uploaded only some — but not all — of the required documentation to the Repository, thus also bringing their program eligibility into question.

Additionally, 12 businesses did not provide sufficient documentation to prove that a woman or women controlled the day-to-day operations of their firms. These firms, which received $8 million in contracts, also may be ineligible for their WOSB set-aside awards.

The OIG report is critical not only of agencies’ implementation of the federal WOSB program but also of SBA’s lax oversight. Accordingly, OIG made five recommendations to the SBA’s Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development calling for improvements in how SBA manages and administers the WOSB program.

It should be noted that even before the OIG’s report, the SBA’s WOSB program already was slated to undergo some major programmatic changes based on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for both FY 2013 and 2015. The NDAAs stipulated considerable increases SBA’s oversight responsibilities. Specifically, the FY 2015 Act will: 1) grant contracting officers the authority to award sole-source awards to WOSB firms, 2) remove firms’ ability to self-certify, and 3) require firms to be certified. The SBA is still determining how it will implement these mandated changes.

The OIG’s full report can be downloaded here: Improvements_Needed_in_SBAs_Management_of_WOSB_Program-OIG_Report_15-10

September 6, 2013 By AMK

Army contracting personnel weren’t aware of contracting rule

Army contracting personnel didn’t adhere to a new rule during their work on contracts worth about $10.5 billion because they weren’t aware of it, a report from the Defense Department office of inspector general says.

The rule, first implemented on an interim basis in March 2011, affects cost-reimbursement contracts, where contractors are paid for costs incurred during the fulfillment of the contract–as opposed to fixed-price contracts. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a cost-reimbursement contract is acceptable only when uncertainties surrounding the contract prevent an accurate estimate of its cost.

The rule requires that DoD contracting personnel obtain approval for cost-reimbursements contracts at one level above the contracting officer or higher. They also have to document that approval.

Additionally, contracting personnel have to justify the use of a cost-reimbursement contract and document its potential to transition to a fixed-price contract. The rule also requires documentation that there are adequate resources to manage a cost-reimbursement contract.

The interim rule became a final rule, without significant changes, in March 2012, but the OIG audit only covered the nearly year-long period where it was still an interim rule.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/army-contracting-personnel-werent-aware-contracting-rule/2013-08-27

Initial production was begun on a Marine Corps acquisition before a test and evaluation plan was in place.

Federal agencies’ contracting officers are awarding set-aside contracts without meeting the set-aside requirements associated with the Small Business Administration’s Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program.

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