IMTEC-90-28FS Army ADP Procurement: Contracting and Market Share Information

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Army's computer procurements during fiscal years 1985 through 1989, focusing on the: (1) extent to which the Army's procurements of mainframe computers and peripherals required compatibility with certain manufacturers' equipment; (2) Army's procurement methods; and (3) Army's Warner Amendment procurements. GAO found that: (1) the Army initiated a total of 489 procurements and obligated a total of $269.1 million for mainframe computers and peripherals, of which 478, or 98 percent, required compatibility with some manufacturers' equipment; (2) 427, or 89 percent, required compatibility with a certain manufacturer's equipment, and the Army obtained that manufacturer's equipment under 305 of these; (3) the Army obligated the most dollars by modifying existing contracts; (4) the Army frequently used General Services Administration schedule purchases as the procurement method for obtaining compatible equipment; (5) the Army procured compatible equipment from small businesses twice, obligating $3.3 million; and (6) 14 of the Army's 15 Warner Amendment procurements were for compatible equipment.

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's plans to modernize its accounting systems to determine: (1) the Army's reasons for the modernization; (2) the effect of its automation strategy on planned computer upgrades at its Finance and Accounting Center; and (3) whether the Army's plan to replace automatic data processing equipment at the center would restrict competition among vendors. GAO found that the Army: (1) appointed a project manager to oversee its modernization strategies; (2) plans to consolidate its 52 existing accounting systems into 8 subsystems for its 3 major accounting departments; (3) did not approve funding for a 1989 replacement contract for the center's equipment; (4) plans to remove a specification for a 3-tier architectural standard from its Accounting System Strategic Plan to avoid restricting competition; (5) transferred certain funding responsibilities for the modernization of the center's equipment to other Army organizations resulting in a decrease of its 1986 cost estimate from $380 million to $277 million; (6) had spent about $110 million on the accounting system modernization as of March 1987; and (7) plans to update its cost estimate to include all computer equipment costs.