Acquisition Management: Opportunities Exist for GAO to Strengthen Its Policies and Procedures

The GAO's own inspector general found that GAO overpaid a facility maintenance contractor by about $94,000 because it never updated a blanket purchase agreement to reflect adjusted labor rates from a collective bargaining agreement. The BPA, awarded in FY2019 and eventually worth up to $119 million, was left unmodified even after the contractor submitted the higher rates, and GAO could not explain why.

The audit also flagged fuzzy internal guidance on evaluating subcontractor pass-through charges and on which federal contracting regulations apply to GSA schedule procurements, gaps that could lead staff to take unnecessary or inconsistent steps. GAO has agreed to tighten invoice approval and modification procedures, has already corrected the contract's labor rates, and says it is updating its procurement policies accordingly.

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