Defense Contracting: Use of Undefinitized Contract Actions Understated and Definitization Time Frames Often Not Met

Abstract

To meet urgent needs, the Department of Defense (DOD) can issue undefinitized contract actions (UCA), which authorize contractors to begin work before reaching a final agreement on contract terms. The contractor has little incentive to control costs during this period, creating a potential for wasted taxpayer dollars. Pursuant to the House of Representatives report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, we assessed (1) the level of insight DOD has into its use of UCAs, (2) how and when DOD is using UCAs, (3) whether DOD is definitizing UCAs in a timely fashion, and (4) whether contracting officers are documenting the basis for negotiated profit or fee. GAO reviewed 77 randomly-selected contracts at seven locations and interviewed DOD officials.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA472287

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Congress
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Control Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Procurement
  • Radar
  • System Software
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.