Information Technology: Selected Federal Agencies Need to Take Additional Actions to Reduce Contract Duplication

Abstract

Given that the federal government spends over $90 billion annually on IT, it is important that agencies avoid spending on duplicative contracts. Such duplication can occur, for example, when an agency awards two or more contracts to the same vendor for the same services. Category managementin which spending is managed by categories such as ITand analyses of agency spending on products and services (called spend analyses) have been recognized as effective practices for identifying duplicative contracts. GAO was asked to review agencies efforts to reduce IT contract duplication. GAO determined the extent to which (1) selected agencies efforts to prevent, identify, and reduce duplicative or wasteful IT contracts were consistent with OMB guidance; and (2) these efforts were informed by spend analyses. GAO compared relevant documentation from seven federal agencies with the most IT spending and new contracts to five activities identified in OMB guidance and two spend analyses activities identified in guidance. GAO rated each agency as having fully, partially, or not implemented each activity.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1131134

Entities

People

  • Carol C. Harris

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

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Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Acquisition
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Contracts
  • Data Analysis
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Department Of State
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Guidance
  • Homeland Security
  • House Of Representatives
  • Information Exchange
  • Information Systems
  • Life Cycles
  • Management Training
  • National Governments
  • Personnel Management
  • Procurement
  • Public Administration
  • Small Business
  • Software Design
  • Training
  • United States Government

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  • Government and Public Administration Law.
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  • Technical Research and Report Writing.