Acquisition: Undefinitized Contractual Actions
Abstract
Who Should Read This Report and Why? This report should be read by acquisition and contracting officials who issue undefinitized contractual actions (letter contracts). This report discusses the need to improve the management of letter contracts. Background. Public Law 99-591, "Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1987," section 908(b), requires the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense to periodically conduct an audit of undefinitized contractual actions and submit a report to Congress on the management and value of UCAs for each Military Department. The last audit issued by the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (IG DoD) on undefinitized contractual actions was IG DoD Report No. 97-204, "Undefinitized Contractual Actions," August 15, 1997. Undefinitized contractual actions are contractual actions, issued as letter contracts and other instruments, for which the contract terms, specifications, or prices are not agreed to before performance begins. Undefinitized contractual actions are restricted for use to meet an urgent requirement of an agency and for use only after a decision is made that no other alternative contracting method will fulfill the urgent need. According to Defense Contract Action Data System, DoD issued 1,453 letter contracts, valued at $12.5 billion, from FY 1998 through FY 2002 that were subject to Public Law 99-591. We reviewed 72 of the 1,453 letter contracts, valued at $1.7 billion, that were issued by activities within the Military Departments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 30, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA432582
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense