Sunday, March 07, 2010
Even when awarding contracts to companies without competitive bidding, federal agencies are supposed to follow certain rules and guidelines. But that has not been the case at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which gave out $3.4 billion in non-competitive contracts last year.
The inspector general for DHS found that officials often failed to do sufficient research and document decisions when awarding these types of contracts. Consequently, DHS is at risk of wasting taxpayer dollars if work is given to businesses that aren’t the most suitable.
The IG’s office reviewed 39 contracts, worth an estimated total of $196 million, and discovered the files sometimes lacked proof that officials performed market research or acquisition planning before awarding jobs to companies, including not providing justification for not opening the contracts to competitive bidding.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
IG: Homeland Security Isn't Awarding Noncompetitive Contracts by the Book (by Elizabeth Newell, Government Executive)
DHS Contracts Awarded Through Other Than Full and Open Competition During Fiscal Year 2009 (Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General) (pdf)
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