Citation[]
Information Technology: Agencies Need Better Information on the Use of Noncompetitive and Bridge Contracts (GAO-19-63) (Dec. 11, 2018) (full-text).
Overview[]
Competition among companies for federal information technology contracts is critical to achieving the best return on investment for taxpayers. However, noncompetitive contracts &dmash; including bridge contracts — are also allowed under certain circumstances.
Federal data estimates 30% of IT spending is noncompetitive — or about $15 billion annually. However, this estimate may not be accurate. We found some agencies misreported whether certain orders were competitive or noncompetitive. This calls the federal estimate into question.
We recommended that selected agencies identify the reason for these errors and correct the problem.