Summary

GAO provided information on the: (1) extent to which the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) Defense General Supply Center (DGSC) improperly classified solicitations as full and open competition; and (2) actions needed to ensure that future DGSC contract awards are based on full and open competition.

GAO found that: (1) DGSC classified less than 2 percent of 1,047 contracts it awarded during one quarter as based on less than full and open competition; (2) analysis of 100 randomly selected contracts indicated that about 49 percent of the solicitations gave only part numbers as item descriptions, which was inconsistent with full and open competition; (3) DGSC did not include the relevant descriptive information in 10 percent of those solicitations, although complete data were available; (4) in 17 percent of the solicitations, complete data were available but considered proprietary; (5) incomplete data were available for 46 percent of the solicitations, and no data were available for 27 percent of the solicitations; (6) DGSC included a standard clause in its part-numbered solicitations requiring bidders to submit data on the items, even when such data were unnecessary; (7) procurement officials did not always know when data were available, and the military services did not always identify the available data for items DGSC procured; and (8) in February 1990, DLA revised its instructions to require review and approval of solicitations that did not provide bidders with access to complete, unrestricted technical data for the procured items.