DOD improves on contractor assessments

The Defense Department more than doubled the number of contractor performance assessments reported from 2010 to 2012, according to a recent GAO report. DOD has been criticized for insufficient procurement reporting, including in 2011 when the Office of Federal Procurement Policy said the department's reports lacked detail.

Now GAO reports that the DOD has improved its percentage of required assessments submitted, from 56 percent in October of 2011 to 74 percent in April of 2013.

FCW reported in January that during the last quarter of calendar year 2012 – the first quarter of fiscal 2013 -- DOD entered 67.5 percent of their required contractor reviews into the Past Performance Information Retrieval System. Richard Ginman, director of defense procurement policy, said in a January memo that OFPP planned to recommend DOD achieve 100 percent report completion by fiscal year 2015. The memo includes a spreadsheet breaking down the performance of individual DOD components.

Even with the uptick in reports, tardiness continues to plague performance reporting, with 58 percent of reports turned in late in 2012.

“DOD officials attribute the lack of timeliness to acquisition workforce shortages, turnover, and the difficulty in obtaining needed information,” the report said. “DOD is working with other agencies on a regulatory change, consistent with a requirement in the [National Defense Authorization Act] for 2012, that would reduce the time allowed for contractors to submit comments on draft assessments.”

GAO had no recommendations and DOD concurred with the report.