Third, the authorization act also provides special procedures for the public-private competitions for the San Antonio and Sacramento workloads. Finally, the act requires that DOD report on the procedures established for the Sacramento and San Antonio competitions and on the Department’s planned allocation of workloads performed at the closing depots as of  July 1, 1995. Our lack of access to information is seriously impairing our ability to carry out our reporting responsibilities under this act. We experienced this problem in doing our work for our recent report to Congress concerning DOD’s determination to combine individual workloads at the two closing logistics centers into a single solicitation. Processes for the C-5 Aircraft Competition Appear Reasonable

In response to congressional concerns regarding the appropriateness of its plans to privatize-in-place the Sacramento and San Antonio maintenance depot workloads, the Air Force revised its strategy to allow the public depots to participate in public-private competitions for the workloads. After assessing the issues required under the act relating to the C-5 aircraft competition, we concluded that (1) the Air Force provided public and private offerors an equal opportunity to compete without regard to where work would be performed; (2) the procedures did not appear to deviate materially from applicable laws or the FAR; and (3) the award resulted in the lowest total cost to the government, based on Air Force assumptions and conditions at the time of award. Under the 1998 Defense Authorization Act, DOD issued the required determinations that the workloads at these two depots “cannot as logically and economically be performed without combination by sources that are potentially qualified to submit an offer and to be awarded a contract to perform those individual workloads.” As required, we reviewed the DOD reports and supporting data and issued our report to Congress on January 20, 1998.We found that the accompanying DOD reports and supporting data do not provide adequate information supporting the determinations. The Air Force has not provided us the information supporting its briefing charts. These participants raised several concerns that they believe may affect the competitions. Preliminary data indicates that using the revised criteria, about 47 to 49 percent of the Air Force’s depot maintenance workload is currently performed by the private sector. During the recent C-5 workload competition evaluation, the Air Force included a $153-million overhead savings estimate for the impact that the added C-5 workload would have on reducing the cost of DOD workload already performed at the military depot’s facilities. In response to private sector concerns, the Air Force is considering limiting the credit given for overhead savings in the Sacramento and San Antonio competitions. The second year savings, if reasonable, will be allowed but discounted. GAO Letters on Access to Records Regarding Public-Private Competitions

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Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the public-private competitions for workloads at two maintenance depots identified for closure, focusing on: (1) the problems GAO is having in obtaining access to Department of Defense (DOD) information; (2) the recent competition for C-5 aircraft workload and GAO's assessment of it; (3) the adequacy of DOD's support for its determination that competing combined, rather than individual workloads of each maintenance depot is more logical and economical; and (4) concerns participants have raised about the upcoming competitions for the workloads at the air logistics centers in Sacramento, California, and San Antonio, Texas.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) its lack of access to information within DOD is seriously impairing its ability to carry out its reporting requirements; (2) GAO completed, with difficulty, its required report to Congress concerning DOD's determination to combine individual workloads at two closing logistics centers into a single solicitation at each location; (3) if DOD continues to delay and restrict GAO's access to information it needs to do its work, GAO will be unable to provide Congress timely and thorough responses regarding the competitions for Sacramento and San Antonio depot maintenance workloads; (4) in assessing the competition for the C-5 aircraft workloads, GAO found that: (a) the Air Force provided public and private sources an equal opportunity to compete for the workloads without regard to where the work could be done; (b) the Air Force's procedures for competing the workloads did not appear to deviate materially from applicable laws or the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and (c) the award resulted in the lowest total cost to the government, based on Air Force assumptions at the time; (5) much remains uncertain about the upcoming competitions for the Sacramento and San Antonio depot maintenance workloads; (6) potential participants have raised several concerns that they believe may affect the conduct of the competitions ; (7) one concern is the impact of the statutory limit on the amount of depot maintenance work that can be done by non-DOD personnel; (8) the Air Force has not yet determined the current and projected public-private sector workload mix using criteria provided in the 1998 Defense Authorization Act, but is working on it; (9) nonetheless, preliminary data indicates there is little opportunity to contract out additional depot maintenance workloads to the private sector; (10) another concern is the Air Force's proposed change in the overhead savings the Department may factor into the cost evaluations; (11) for the C-5 workload competition, overhead savings were considered for the duration of the performance period; and (12) however, for the Sacramento and San Antonio competitions, the Air Force is considering limiting overhead savings to the first year and possibly reducing the savings for the second year.