Insufficient Past-Performance Data Used in Awards

Federal agencies are not relying enough on each other’s contractor past-performance data in making new awards, due to the unreliability of the information or difficulty assessing its relevance, says a new study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report, requested by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says even with the creation in 2002 of a governmentwide retrieval system for such data, its use is not widespread. It reviewed 62 fiscal 2007 and 2008 solicitations in the Depts. of Energy, Defense and Homeland Security, among oth- ers, and interviewed 121 contracting officials.