Army Procurement and Contract Administration Practices on Computer Software Service Contracts.

This audit was performed in response to a congressional inquiry regarding the Armys procurement of computer software services. On behalf of a constituent, Congressman Jim Talent requested the Inspector General, DoD, to review the contracting practices of the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command and the Systems Integration and Management Activity, both subordinate commands of the Army Materiel Command. The constituent alleged that fraud, waste, and mismanagement occurred on contracts used to develop computer software for the Security Assistance Automation, Army SA3, and that the Army seldom or never used the developed software. The audit objectives were to determine whether the Army followed Federal and DoD acquisition regulations when awarding and administering computer software service contracts and to review internal controls applicable to the award and administration of the contracts. To adequately answer the allegations, we amended the audit objectives to focus on whether the Armys SA3 development followed required Defense and Army information system development policies and procedures. Additionally, we assessed internal controls as they applied to the development of SA3.