Missing Information

Defense Department agencies and components have failed to submit complete information about non-competitive contract awards to the Pentagon's public affairs office, prompting the defense procurement and acquisition policy shop to conduct periodic checks, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday.

The five-page GAO report states that acquisition rules require defense contracting officers to submit certain details about contract awards worth more than $5.5 million to the public affairs shop by the close of business the day before the date of the proposed award. The required details concern the contract, the contractor, the funding and the competition.

But GAO found that in August 2010 there was a "pattern of contract award announcements that lacked the information required to be submitted . . . for one or more categories." This incomplete information violates DOD acquisition rules and prevents full transparency, GAO writes.

"President Obama has emphasized transparency and openness in how the government spends taxpayer dollars," GAO writes in its report to Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy Director Shay Assad. "Every military service and DOD agency that submitted a contract award announcement in August 2010 had at least one submission that did not meet the requirements."

Assad concurred with GAO's recommendation to heed the rules, stating that his office will issue a memo to DOD contracting officers reminding them of their responsibilities to include complete information when notifying the public affairs shop of contract announcements. Assad's office will also conduct "periodic checks" of the information provided to the public affairs shop by DOD departments and agencies, the report notes.