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GAO-24-106730 1 (2023-11-08)

handle is hein.gao/gaopje0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 November 8, 2023 The Honorable Jack Reed Chairman The Honorable Roger Wicker Ranking Member Committee on Armed Services United States Senate Army Corps of Engineers: Data Needed to Monitor Implementation of Revised Policy for Selecting Architecture and Engineering Contractors In fiscal year 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) obligated $1.8 billion on contracts for architecture and engineering (A-E) services. When awarding contracts for these services, federal law requires the government to select A-E firms based on their competency and qualifications rather than price.1 Agencies collect information on firms' qualifications through a standard form and other sources, including performance evaluations of prior work, requests for any additional information, and interviews with the most highly qualified firms.2 For recurring A-E services for a given program or regional area, USACE may use multiple award task order contracts that allow it to place orders for specific projects from among a select number of pre-qualified firms.3 Specifically, under these types of contracts, USACE first uses a single solicitation to award a base contract to a pool of at least three A-E firms using qualification-based procedures. When the need for a task order within the scope of the base contract arises, USACE then selects the most qualified firm to perform the work from the pool of contract holders. 1Federal law, as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 36.6, requires agencies to publicly announce all requirements for A-E services and negotiate contracts for these services based on the demonstrated competence and qualifications of prospective contractors to perform the services at fair and reasonable prices. 40 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1104. 2The FAR states that firms must file a Standard Form 330 to be considered for an A-E contract. See FAR 36.603(b). The FAR also requires any agency maintaining qualification data files, which include firms' Standard Form 330s, to review and update each file at least once a year. See FAR 36.603(d). The FAR states that the review process should include encouraging firms to annually update information in their Standard Form 330. See FAR 36.603(d)(1). 3Multiple award task order contracts (referred to as multiple award contracts for the purposes of this report) are a type of indefinite-delivery contract for services. Indefinite-delivery contracts are awarded to one or more contractors when the exact quantities and/or timing of products and/or services are not known at the time of award. The government then places orders under the indefinite-delivery contract once exact quantities and/or timing are known. When an agency has awarded multiple contracts under a single solicitation, an order generally must be competed among all the contract holders using the procedures in FAR 16.505 for fair opportunity. However, for contracts and orders for A-E services, agencies must select contractors in accordance with a separate set of procedures outlined in FAR subpart 36.6, as described above. See FAR 16.500(d). GAO-24-106730 USACE Services Contracting Page 1

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