Defense Contracting: Complete Historical Data Not Available on Canceled DOD Solicitations

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) generally requires that federal executive agencies seek competition for contracting opportunities by issuing solicitations. In certain instances, after notifying industry of its intent to purchase a certain good or service, the government may decide to cancel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2016
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Budgets/Expenditures
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) generally requires that federal executive agencies seek competition for contracting opportunities by issuing solicitations. In certain instances, after notifying industry of its intent to purchase a certain good or service, the government may decide to cancel a solicitation---thereby stopping the procurement process. The House Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 included a provision for GAO to report on solicitations that the Department of Defense (DOD) canceled after receiving bids or proposals from industry between fiscal years 2010 and 2014. This report describes: 1) standards for canceling a solicitation and 2) availability of data on canceled DOD solicitations, among other objectives. To describe the standards to cancel a solicitation, GAO reviewed the FAR and GAO bid protest decisions. To determine what information is available on canceled DOD solicitations, GAO reviewed available data from federal business opportunities (FBO) web page (http://www.fedbizopps.gov), and interviewed officials from the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.