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B-167034 1 (1974-03-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabkxr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: STMCTK- Not to be . /b t Accouting Office except on the basis of specific approval by the Office of Legislative Liaison, a record of which is ke COMPTROb -RBWtrl ArothJoklubficatien$ Branch, OAS WASHINGTON. D.C. 20548 PA~ oIi RELEASED -' MA=R 15 1 14 B-167034 The Honorable John C. Stennis Chairman, Armed Services Committee . United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: In accordance with your October 4, 1973, request and discussions with your office, we !reviewed five Department of Defense (DOD) ma'or wea on systems deveoped under competitive prototype contracts. Your request referred us to your committee report 93-385 which expressed a concern with wide disparities in awards to contractors com- peting in prototype development because such disparate awards might penalize a contractor which has the foresight to invest its own funds in anticipation of a requirement for development of a new weapon system. The report stated that DOD may need to examine the criteria, policy, and procedures of the Armed Services Procurement Regulations and other direc- tives to insure that the source selection process is applied uniformly and equitably. The report suggested using in follow-on procure- ment as an alternative to competitveprototyping, if planned requirements are large enough. On the basis of this and many previous reviews of weapon systems, we have concluded that competitive prototyping has considerable merit as an acquisition strategy for certain programs because it --permits testing and evaluation before a production decision is made and --enables contractors and procuring agencies to make better cost estimates for production units than would otherwise be possible. Competitive prototyping has the added advantage of introducing competition into both the technical and cost areas. Although some items can be developed on a sole-source basis, with competition being obtained for follow-on produc- tion, this technique can have serious limitations because many systems are designed by contractors which have their own particular expertise and produc- tion methods in mind. The transfer of this know-how to another contractor can be extremely difficult and/or expensive. -~e7-

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