The Department of Defense’s (DOD) office of inspector general (OIG) has recommended that DOD contracting personnel establish policies for tracking other transaction agreements awarded through consortia and work with the General Services Administration to update the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation to better track OT data.
DOD should also provide best practices to advance the use of competition in awarding OTs through consortia and direct contracting staff to maintain documentation for major decisions related to such transactions, according to a report released Wednesday.
The OIG made the recommendations after reviewing a sample of 13 base OT awards worth approximately $24.6 billion that were active between fiscal year 2018 and FY 2019.
The inspector general also called on the Pentagon to offer training on awarding consortium OTs and implement guidelines that can be used by contracting personnel when negotiating fees with a consortium management organization.
DOD should also establish controls to ensure the security of information being shared with CMOs and consortium members.
“While some information by itself may not be a threat to security, consortium members see an aggregate of information related to military prototype projects. Not protecting sensitive information could cause harm to national security and reveal the direction the DoD is heading with the prototype projects being developed,” the report states.
