Strategic Sourcing: Opportunities Exist to Better Manage Information Technology Services Spending
Abstract
GAO reported in 2012 that the government is not fully leveraging its buying power for high-spending areas such as IT services, which accounted for more than $30 billion in fiscal year 2013. Leading commercial companies use strategic sourcing - a process that moves them away from numerous individual purchases to an aggregate approach - to better manage the services they acquire and achieve savings of 4 to 15 percent annually. GAO was asked to review strategic sourcing of IT services. This report addresses the extent to which selected agencies (1) manage IT services through strategic sourcing approaches, and (2) have insight into labor rates for similar IT services. GAO reviewed DOD (including the three military departments), DHS, and NASA, which collectively accounted for 53 percent of reported federal fiscal year 2013 IT services obligations. GAO analyzed agency policies, procurement and contracting data, and interviewed agency and contractor officials. GAO identified a high-spend IT service category and obtained labor rate information from a nongeneralizable sample of 30 contract actions awarded to two of the largest contractors common to these agencies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1166731
Entities
People
- Timothy J. Dinapoli
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office