Accession Number:

ADA556824

Title:

Analysis of Government Accountability Office Bid Protests in Air Force Source Selections over the Past Two Decades

Descriptive Note:

Technical rept.

Corporate Author:

RAND PROJECT AIR FORCE SANTA MONICA CA

Personal Author(s):

• Light, Thomas
• Camm, Frank A.
• Chenoweth, Mary E.
• Lewis, Peter A.
• Rudavsky, Rena

Report Date:

2012-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

62.0

Abstract:

This technical report presents the findings of analyses of data on U.S. Air Force acquisition protests submitted to the Government Accountability Office GAO over the preceding two decades. It is part of a larger study of the Air Forces recent experience with bid protests that performed case study analyses of recent successful, high-profile bid protests and identified various lessons learned. RAND Project AIR FORCE PAF undertook this effort at the request of Gen Donald Hoffman, as former military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition SAFAQ Lt Gen Mark D. Shackelford, SAFAQ and Roger S. Correll, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Contracting SAFAQC. These sponsors asked PAF to identify specific changes that the Air Force can make to both its source selection policies and processes for complex acquisitions so as to minimize incidents that often lead to successful protests. This research was conducted as part of a project titled Air Force Source Selections Lessons Learned and Best Practices, conducted during fiscal year FY 2009 within PAFs Resource Management program. To analyze the Air Forces bid protest experience, we used federal administrative databases of Air Force procurement and protest activity. We summarized trends and developed statistical models to identify factors contributing to protest activity and outcomes. The findings of these analyses should be of interest to those with direct responsibility for source selections and bid protests, as well as to policymakers working in these domains.

Descriptors:

• *AIR FORCE PROCUREMENT
• *CONTRACTORS
• *ERRORS
• *LONG RANGE(TIME)
• *SELECTION
• *SOURCES
• *STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
• ACCOUNTABILITY
• AIR FORCE
• CONTRACTS
• DATA BASES
• DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
• GRAPHS
• PATTERNS
• PROBABILITY
• REGRESSION ANALYSIS
• TABLES(DATA)

Subject Categories:

• Administration and Management
• Statistics and Probability
• Logistics, Military Facilities and Supplies

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE