Contract Pricing

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense’s (DOD) efforts to ensure that high-risk contractors reduce the government’s vulnerability to contract overpricing, focusing on the: (1) extent to which contractors are correcting significant cost-estimating system deficiencies; (2) actions DOD contracting officers are taking to encourage contractors to improve their cost-estimating systems; and (3) adequacy of DOD controls to ensure that deficiencies are timely corrected. GAO found that: (1) contractors’ performance in correcting their significant cost-estimating system deficiencies has been mixed; (2) 11 of 30 high-risk DOD contractors have significant uncorrected deficiencies that have been outstanding an average of 3.8 years; (3) the failure to timely correct estimating deficiencies creates a variety of problems for DOD, including increased costs and delays in contract awards; (4) although DOD contracting officers take various actions to encourage contractors to correct cost-estimating deficiencies, contracting officers do not use the most stringent measures available, such as reducing progress payments or recommending nonaward of future contracts; (5) even when contractors have long-standing estimating system deficiencies, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) does not attempt to determine the reasons for delays in correcting the deficiencies or ensure that contractors and DOD contracting officers are taking all appropriate actions to correct them; and (6) DLA oversight of contracting officers is important, since they have considerable latitude in deciding how to obtain corrective action and DOD does not specify criteria used to determine timeliness of corrective actions.