The Federal Acquisition Service should closely scrutinize pricing when consolidating multiple award schedule contracts to secure the lowest cost for government agencies, according to the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General.
FAS did not always use the government’s buying power when performing price analyses for MAS contract consolidation processes, the OIG said in a Monday audit report.
After studying 19 consolidated contracts from fiscal year 2022, the office found that FAS’ contract consolidating practice contradicts GSA policy and discourages contracting personnel from fully exercising their responsibilities.
Notably, FAS contracting personnel resorted to pricing comparisons with other government contracts instead of using transactional data reporting when performing price analyses.
The OIG report observed that FAS’ price analyses are inconsistent and ineffective, thus restricting the government’s target of establishing reasonable pricing for products and services under consolidated contracts.
The audit concluded that FAS failed to fully comply with the GSA guidance and federal regulations when carrying out its contract consolidation initiative.
To address the problem, the OIG called on FAS to establish an oversight process for contract consolidation to ensure that agency personnel adhere to GSA policy and assess all supporting contract documents.
The report also urged FAS to revisit previously consolidated MAS contracts to check if their products and services met federal regulations and GSA policy requirements.
