GAO Calls for Controls on Interagency Contracts The world of multiple award contracts is a Wild West with no sheriff, according to the Government Accountability Office. GAO said agencies have created a slew of interagency and enterprisewide contracts, raising costs for the government and for contractors who must bid on duplicative vehicles. Companies said the cost of bidding on the contracts ranges from $10,000 to $1 million and up. “[M]any of the same contractors provided similar products and services on multiple contracts—a condition that increases costs to both the vendor and the government and misses opportunities to leverage the government’s buying power,” the audit report said. Auditors found identical products and services were often sold at different prices on different contracts. While the Office of Federal Procurement Policy has authority over governmentwide acquisition contracts for IT products and services, other contract vehicles—such as Homeland Security’s EAGLE and the Navy’s Seaport-e—have proliferated with no central control. GAO said agencies spent around $60 billion on these contracts in 2008, but nobody knows the exact figure because nobody tracks the data. Nor is there a census to determine how many of the contracts exist. “The perceived growth in the number of these contracts and duplication that has occurred with their growth may also adversely affect the overall administrative efficiencies and cost savings expected with their use,” the auditors said. The report was especially critical of the largest multiple award vehicle, the GSA Schedules. It said GSA does not collect data to determine whether its pricing policies are adequate or whether the schedules meet customer needs. “Interagency contracts were intended to increase government efficiency,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-CT, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “Instead, on a daily basis, agencies duplicate each other’s contracting efforts, raising the cost of government.” He and other lawmakers called for tighter controls over the contracts. Congress has directed agencies to produce a business case analysis for multiple award contracts. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is also looking at the issue.