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Report | May 15, 2015

Improvements Needed for Awarding Service Contracts at Naval Special Warfare Command DODIG-2015-124

Objective

The objective of the audit was to determine whether Naval Special Warfare Command, San Diego, California, awarded service contracts and task orders in accordance with Federal and DoD guidelines. We conducted this audit in response to a request by the House Committee on Armed Services. We reviewed a nonstatistical sample of 35 contracts.

Finding

Naval Special Warfare Command contracting personnel did not award 9 of 35 service contracts, valued at approximately $3.4 million between October 1, 2011, and June 30, 2014, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Parts 6 and 7. Specifically, Naval Special Warfare Command contracting personnel awarded:

  • five contracts, valued at approximately $1.5 million, with restrictive statements of work, statements ofobjectives, or performance work statements because contracting personnel did not challenge, or fully understand the nature of the requirements in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 6 requirements for competition; and
  • four contracts, valued at approximately $1.9 million, as sole source based on urgent and compelling training for recurring training needs because technical and logistics personnel did not perform adequate acquisition planning in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Parts 6 and 7 requirements for competition and acquisition planning.

As a result, Naval Special Warfare Command contracting personnel inappropriately limited competition, which may have favored certain contractors. In addition, Naval Special Warfare Command was at risk for price increases.

Recommendations

We recommend the Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command:

  • Establish procedures to ensure contracting personnel challenge performance work statements, statements of objectives, and statements of work requirements and ensure that restrictive requirements are adequately justified and documented.
  • Establish controls to ensure that Naval Special Warfare Command personnel identify recurring requirements within their departments.
  • Develop an acquisition strategy to award competitive long-term contracts for known training to reduce the need for urgent and compelling awards.
  • Provide training to Naval Special Warfare Command personnel on the necessary lead times to complete the acquisition planning process for recurring training requirements and awarding sole-source contracts in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.3.

Management Comments and Our Response

The Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, addressed the specifics of all recommendations except for the recommendation to develop an acquisition strategy. The Commander only partially addressed that recommendation; therefore, we request that he provide additional comments on the final report.


This report is a result of Project No. D2014-D000CJ-0191.000.