Tag Archives: GAO reports

Buy Indian Act: New Policy Memo Aims To Increase Set-Asides

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Buy Indian Act set-asides might increase following the Department of the Interior’s recent release of a Buy Indian Act National Policy Memorandum.

In the January 2016 Memorandum, the DOI establishes a policy of maximizing the use of the Buy Indian Act and increasing the number of Buy Indian Act set-asides.  The Buy Indian Act Memorandum comes in the wake of a GAO Report issued last summer, which criticized the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service for their implementation of the Buy Indian Act.

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Bridge Contracts Need Improved Oversight, Says GAO

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In a recent GAO review of three agencies’ use of bridge contracts, the agencies in question had “limited or no insight into their use of bridge contracts.”

According to a recent GAO report, a lack of effective guidance for the use of bridge contracts contributed to potential misuse–such as several so-called “bridge” contracts that were longer than three years in duration.

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Buy Indian Act: 105 Years (And Counting) Of Frustration

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In 1910, William Howard Taft lived in the White House, the Chicago Cubs were just two years removed from back-to-back World Series titles, and Arizona had yet to be admitted to the Union.  That summer, Congress passed the Buy Indian Act, a statute authorizing a special federal contracting program for Indian-owned businesses.

Since then, it has been mostly downhill.  It took the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 103 years to issue regulations implementing the Act’s contracting preferences.  Now that the regulations are finally in place, the Buy Indian Act program is suffering from lack of effective oversight and implementation.  In fact, a recent GAO report found that the BIA and the Indian Health Service could not even clearly articulate whether Buy Indian Act set-aside contracts take priority over other set-asides.

If the Buy Indian Act is ever to live up to its potential, significant changes are needed.

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Buy Indian Act: Implementation Needs Improvement, Says GAO

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The implementation of the Buy Indian Act set-aside program suffers from inconsistencies and uncertainties–including the fundamental question of whether Buy Indian Act set-asides are to be prioritized over other set-aside contracts.

In a recent report on the Buy Indian Act, the GAO uncovered a disturbing lack of effective oversight and implementation, and made several recommendations to enable the government to maximize the effectiveness of the Buy Indian Act.

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GAO Report: Only 1% of WOSB Awards Are WOSB Set-Asides

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Only one percent of women-owned small business contract awards have come from WOSB or EDWOSB set-asides.

This disheartening finding was part of a recent GAO report on WOSB contracting, which finds that WOSB set-asides have had a “minimal effect” on agency awards to WOSBs and attainment of agency WOSB goals.  The GAO report offers some insights on program changes that might increase the use of WOSB set-asides, including one major change that may already be in the works.

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GAO Bid Protests: “Sustains” Lower But “Effectiveness” Steady

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The GAO sustained only 13% of bid protests in Fiscal Year 2014, down from 17% in the previous fiscal year.

But although some commentators might interpret the numbers as a sign that more non-meritorious protests were filed, the “effectiveness rate” (which measures sustain decisions plus voluntary agency corrective actions) remained steady at 43%.  In other words, agencies are taking corrective action more frequently in response to GAO bid protests–but when the agency doesn’t take corrective action, the protester’s odds of success may be long.

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WOSB Program: Certification Oversight Lacking, Says GAO

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The SBA performs only “minimal oversight” of third-party certifiers for the woman-owned small business program, and thus “lacks reasonable assurance that only eligible businesses receive WOSB set-aside contracts,” says the GAO in a recent report on the WOSB Program.

The GAO report identifies numerous weaknesses in the WOSB certification system, and provides a number of recommendations to strengthen WOSB Program oversight.

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