GSA saves money with contract reviews, IG says

The General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General saved $268 million in fiscal 2009 by performing mid-negotiation reviews of proposed contracts, according to a new report.

Pre-award evaluations provide information to contracting officers during the contract negotiations. If the IG identifies inefficient terms or excessive expenses, the contracts can be renegotiated.

The IG performed advance evaluations on 74 GSA contracts with a combined estimated value of $8.1 billion and recommended that $268 million could be put to better use, according to the OIG’s Semiannual Report to Congress, which was made available on the office’s Web site on Dec. 2.

GSA approved nearly all the savings.

During the fiscal year, the OIG recovered $210 million in criminal, civil, administrative and other actions from 154 audit reports.

The office’s work led to 228 new investigations, 101 criminal indictments and 91 successful prosecutions. There were 150 contractor or individual suspensions and 62 debarments during the year, the IG said.

In April, GSA collected $128 million from NetApp, Inc., following an investigation of alleged false claims and contract fraud.

The report provides an overview of some of the areas evaluated by the IG, including acquisition management and information technology management.

For example, the IG identified inconsistencies in implementing policies with GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule Program and recommended improvements in four areas for information security.