On May 18, the Office of the Undersecretary for Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD/AT&L) released its Acquisition Compliance Scorecard for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016. The report analyzed several Department of Defense (DoD) Agencies’ compliance with procurement regulations in three areas: competition, past performance, and including the new DFARS clause 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting, in newly awarded contracts.
OUSD/AT&L releases the scorecard quarterly, and measures each of several DoD agencies’ performance against an overall DoD goal. The competition component measures what percentage of contract dollars are competed versus sole sourced. Each DoD agency has a unique goal depending on its history and the type of requirements it awarded that quarter. For this quarter, DoD reported a total of 5.6 million contract actions at a dollar amount of 142.6 billion. Of this total, $66.4 billion, or 46.5%, was competed, and $76.2 billion in DoD contracting awards were sole sourced. The DoD’s quarterly goal was to compete 57.0% of contract dollars. Four of the twenty-three DoD agencies graded met or exceeded their competition goal this quarter; the remainder fell short.
The scorecard also reported each DoD activity’s compliance with past performance reporting. This report assessed twenty-four DoD agencies and found that, overall, the evaluated agencies complied with past performance reporting requirements in 82.61% of cases. This was a slight decrease from last quarter’s composite compliance rate of 82.94%. The DoD as a whole reported 17,447 overdue past performance reports (of a total requirement of 100,335).
Finally, the report measured DoD agencies’ inclusion of the new DFARS Clause 252.204-7012, regarding safeguarding sensitive defense information and reporting cybersecurity incidents, into awarded contracts. The DoD’s overall goal is an aggressive 95% compliance; for FY16 Q2, none of the major DoD agencies met this goal. The Department of the Navy came closest, with a compliance rate of 93%; all other agencies that reported data were under 85% compliance. The Defense Logistics Agency, at 28% compliance, has the longest way to go. Overall, only 48% of DoD’s contracts included the new DFARS clause.
This data provides interesting insight into the relative performance of different DoD agencies in complying with procurement regulations. Each agency no doubt faces unique challenges, but a rigorous and regular review of compliance ensures accountability when an agency falls short of its goals. For the government contractor, this information provides some insight into particular problems it might encounter when contracting with the DoD or one of its subagencies. Familiarity with the DoD’s overall goals and contracting efficacy can help a contractor ensure that it does its part in meeting the government’s needs.
Carrie Willett is responsible for the Contents of this Short Take.
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