Consulting Services Contracts for Operational Test and Evaluation
Abstract
The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (the Director) is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition on Operational Test and Evaluation (operational tests) in DoD. Each DoD Component has one major field Operational Test Agency that is responsible for planning, conducting, and reporting all operational tests for major Defense acquisition programs. The overall objective was to determine whether the same advisory and assistance services (services) contractors that participated in the development, production, or testing (development) of major Defense acquisition systems were also involved in the operational tests of those systems. In addition, we determined whether using services contracts to provide support for operational tests was more cost-effective than developing a capability to perform the work in-house. We also evaluated the effectiveness of applicable internal controls. The Military Departments' Operational Test Agencies (Test agencies) frequently used the same services contractors to support operational tests for major Defense acquisition systems that participated in the development of the systems. As a result, operational tests did not attain the desired impartiality and independence test assessments may be biased, and systems may be produced and deployed with unknown performance limitations (Finding A).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 22, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA379509
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense