Contracting Data Analysis: Assessment of Government-Wide Trends

Federal agencies obligated over 430 billion through contracts for products and services in fiscal year 2015, accounting for almost 40 percent of the governments discretionary spending. Because spending on contracts consumes a large portion of the federal governments discretionary budget, Congress and the administration have taken steps to strengthen federal contracting practices and enhance oversight of government contract spending. This report identifies overall trends in defense and civilian agencies contract obligations from fiscal years 2011 through 2015 the most recent and complete available at the time of GAOs review, such as trends in competition and use of various contract types. This report includes snapshots of procurement activity at the 10 civilian agencies with the highest levels of obligations in fiscal year 2015 as well as the 3 military departments. All data are presented in constant fiscal year 2015 dollars. GAO analyzed data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation FPDS-NG, the governments procurement database, and reviewed prior GAO and Inspector General reports.