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092718 1 (1969-03-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacwpg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ' UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D C. 20548 CIVIL. DIVISION MAR 1 8 1969 Dear Dr. Paine: The General Accounting Office (GAO) has.made a eVu-ewoexe'- (selection, negotiation, and award of ce tain ntractsrat-the-ltanal-; nnA n'anned Spacecraft Center (MSC) for the purpose of determining whether the practices followed were in accordance with the requirements of 10 U.S.C. 2304(g). The purpose of this letteC is to advise you briefly of the general results of our review and the subsequent actions taken by NASA officials, in concert with officials of the GAO, to promulgate revised procedures, which have as their objective, improved piocurement practices. Briefly, 10 U.S.C. 2304(g) provides that, in all negotiated procurements in excess of $2,500 *** written or oral discussions shall be conducted with all responsible offerors who submit proposals within a competitive range, price and other factors considered. The statute does not provide definitive guidance with respect to what is to be included in the written or oral discussions and leaves to the contract- ing agency the responsibility for determining the competitive range. Our review of the NASA procurement instructions, issued to implement the statutory requirements, also indicated a need for further clarifica- tion concerning the written or oral discussions and the determination of competitive range. Because of this lack of definitive guidance in the statute and in NASA's implementing procurement instructions, varying interpretations have been applied by different source selection and contracting officers. We reviewed the selection of proposals for negotiations in 47 awards made by MSC during the period, January 1, 1965, through June 30, 1967. In 17 of the 47 awards, the selection officers had limited negotiations to a single offeror, even though the records showed that other offerors had submitted proposals that appeared to us to be competitive in price and other factors. The justifications for negotiations with only one offeror raised questions concerning the determinations of competitive range and compliance with the requirement for oral or written discussions with all offerors within that range. However, the absence of more explicit guidance in the statute and in NASA procurement regulations and instructions, gave source selection gaicials considerable leeway in satisfying the statutory requiremph.)N

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