The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Defense Security Cooperation Agency modify its strategy for overseeing operational expenses of the Defense Department‘s foreign military sales program.

GAO said Monday it found that DoD lacks data to show how the department spends on military operations such as compensating program staff and monitoring contractor compliance to contract requirements.

The DSCA director should coordinate with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to reconcile and clarify the reliability of data on the use of FMS administrative funds, according to the government audit agency.

The watchdog added that DSCA director should submit at least two annual assessments on how military departments process finances and use a risk-based approach to periodically evaluate the business process of DoD components for administrative funds.

The rest of GAO’s recommendations can be found here.

Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, has said the Defense Department started distributing to the military and contractors a list of software platforms that should not be purchased, Defense One reported Friday.

This is because such software platforms have failed to meet national security requirements, Lord said.

“What we are doing is making sure that we do not buy software that’s Russian or Chinese provenance,” Lord, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, told reporters Friday at the Pentagon.

“Quite often that’s difficult to tell at first glance because of holding companies,” she added.

Lord noted that Pentagon officials and the intelligence community have started to name “certain companies that do not operate in a way consistent with what we have for defense standard.”

The report said DoD has worked with the Professional Services Council, National Defense Industrial Association, Aerospace Industries Association and other trade groups to inform large and small defense contractors about malicious software amid foreign hacking concerns.