GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548 

March 31, 2003 

Subject: Catalogue of GAO and Inspectors General Reports on Contracting Issues for 

Fiscal Years 1997 through 2002 

Dear User: 

 

The federal government spent more than $230 billion through contracts with private industry 

in fiscal year 2001. Ten Executive Branch agencies1

 account for almost 95 percent of this 

spending. Past reviews by Executive Branch agency inspectors general, military-department 

audit agencies,2

 and the General Accounting Office (GAO) have created an extensive body of 

reports on the procedures and practices that federal agencies use to plan, award, and 

administer contracts. These reviews identified weaknesses in the contracting processes of 

individual agencies3

 and contracting challenges faced by these agencies. To our knowledge, 

however, there is no comprehensive listing of these reviews that can be used to identify the 

contracting weaknesses and challenges these agencies have in common. Consequently, to 

facilitate literature searches of the reports concerning federal contracting matters, we 

compiled a catalogue of information from reports and testimonies by the 10 agencies’ 

inspectors general, military department audit agencies, and GAO. Such a catalogue could be 

useful to the oversight community and others in determining (1) common contracting issues 

identified across multiple agencies and (2) the potential contracting-risk areas and gaps in 

contracting oversight across these agencies. 

This catalogue contains information about contracting matters identified in reports and 

testimonies issued during fiscal years 1997 through 2002. Each catalogue record includes the 

agency that conducted the audit or review; the audited agency; audit report number, title, and 

date issued; a summary of the reported contracting issues; and the contracting processes or 

functions identified as weaknesses. Users of the catalogue can conduct a search by any of 

these items. The catalogue includes a brief summary of each report’s findings. In most 

 

1

The Executive Branch agencies include the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human 

Services, Justice, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs; the General Services Administration; and the 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

2

 These are the Army and Air Force Audit Agencies and the Naval Audit Service. 

3

 Contracting is the purchasing, renting, leasing, or otherwise obtaining supplies or services from nonfederal 

sources. The contracting process includes planning the contracting action; describing the required supplies and 

services; identifying, soliciting and selecting sources of supplies and services; preparing and awarding 

contracts; all phases of contract administration; and closing out the contract. 
Page 2 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

cases, an electronic copy of the full report or testimony can be obtained from the reporting 

agency’s Web site, or a hard copy document can be obtained from the reporting agency. This 

catalogue is intended to facilitate searches of reports. Users of the catalogue should follow 

up with the agencies to determine what actions they took to address the findings and 

recommendations. 

The catalogue is available in two formats: (1) an AccessTM database and (2) a data extract 

text file. We also included (1) a list of agency Web sites where users can obtain copies of 

complete reports identified in the catalogue, (2) a glossary of contracting terms used to 

categorize the contracting issues identified in the reports, and (3) a tip sheet on conducting 

simple AccessTM searches of the catalogue. 

Scope and Methodology

To identify reports and testimonies concerning contracting matters issued during fiscal years 

1997 through 2002, we identified, obtained, and reviewed reports and testimonies from the 

Web sites of agency inspectors general, military department audit agencies, and GAO as well 

as agency-provided lists. We did not include reports that dealt with grants, cooperative 

agreements, or interagency agreements because these are not considered contracts and the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation does not govern these relationships. We also did not include 

pre-award and post award reviews of individual contracts or other reports with restricted 

distribution based on proprietary content. We also did not include reports restricted because 

of national security reasons. 

Information on these reports is contained in a table, or catalogue. For each report, we 

captured key information (such as audited agency and report number), summarized the 

report’s findings, and categorized the report by various contracting terms or issues to 

facilitate catalogue searches. A panel of GAO contracting-matter specialists compiled a list 

of contracting terms used to categorize the reported contracting issues. These terms were 

validated by inspector general and audit agency officials and defined in a glossary.4

 Officials 

from each inspector general’s office and audit agency reviewed our catalogue entries to 

validate them for completeness, accuracy, and appropriateness of the contracting terms we 

used to facilitate data searches. We incorporated the changes they suggested. 

We conducted our research between May 2002 and January 2003. Because this effort was 

not an audit of government organizations or programs, this effort was not required to be 

conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

We are sending electronic versions of this catalogue to the inspectors general of the 

Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Justice, 

Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs; the General Services Administration; and the 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as the directors for the Army and Air 

Force Audit Agencies, and the Naval Audit Service. This report will also be available at no 

charge on GAO’s home page at http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/d03504sp/ . 

 

4

The panel developed the glossary based on 1) the panel members’ knowledge and experience with contract 

related issues and (2) definitions contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 
Page 3 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

Questions regarding this catalogue can be directed to me at (202) 512-8214, or Hilary 

Sullivan at (214) 777-5652. Major contributors to this product were Frederick Day, Timothy 

DiNapoli, Jack Edwards, Michael Gorin, Gordon Lusby, Gary Middleton, Monty Peters, 

Pauline Reaves, Sylvia Schatz, Christina Sklarew, Tanisha Stewart, Bradley Terry, and Ralph 

White. 

William T. Woods 

Director 

Acquisition and Sourcing Management 
Page 4 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

 LIST OF AGENCY OR INSPECTOR GENERAL WEBSITES

Agency Website

Department of Agriculture www.usda.gov/oig

Department of Defense www.dodig.osd.mil

Department of Energy www.ig.doe.gov

Department of Health and Human Services www.oig.hhs.gov

Department of Justice www.usdoj.gov/oig

Department of Transportation www.oig.dot.gov

Department of Treasury www.ustreas.gov/offices/inspector-general

Department of Treasury for Tax Administration www.treas.gov/tigta

Department of Veterans Affairs www.va.gov/oig

General Services Administration5 www.gsa.gov

National Aeronautics and Space Administration www.hq.nasa.gov

Air Force Audit Agency www.afaa.hq.af.mil

Army Audit Agency www.hqda.army.mil/aaaweb

Naval Audit Service www.hq.navy.mil/navalaudit

General Accounting Office www.gao.gov

 

5

 GSA Inspector General reports generally are not available on the website and must be ordered in hard 

copy. 
Page 5 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

GLOSSARY OF THE

CONTRACTING TERMS

USED IN THE CATALOGUE

The purpose of this glossary is to provide definitions of the terms we used to categorize the 

contracting issues identified in reports included in the catalogue. We used the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as our source of choice whenever possible to provide the 

definitions, but used other sources when we could not find a term defined in the FAR. The 

definitions are not intended to be all-inclusive or legally precise; they are intended to provide 

a usable, general definition to assist users in searching the catalogue. We have grouped these 

terms into various categories, for example, contract planning, contract type, and contract 

administration. 

Users can search the catalogue using the terms in this glossary that are identified in bold (e.g. 

requirements) and using the type of information contained in each catalogue record, such as 

the name of the agency that was audited or the audit report’s number or title. Each catalogue 

record includes the agency that conducted the audit; the audited agency; audit report number, 

title, and date issued; a summary of the reported contracting issues; and the contracting 

processes or functions identified as weaknesses. In addition, users can perform a word 

search of the audit report title and the findings summary. 

The catalogue includes reports that address issues related to contracting—the purchasing, 

renting, leasing, or otherwise obtaining supplies or services from nonfederal sources. The 

contracting functions include planning the contracting action; describing the required 

supplies and services; identifying, soliciting, and selecting sources of supplies and services; 

preparing and awarding contracts; all phases of contract administration; and closing out the 

contract. Contracting does not include awarding grants or cooperative agreements. 

 

CONTRACT PLANNING

Requirements are the agency’s identified needs for personnel, equipment, facilities, other 

resources, or services, and of definite or indefinite quantities, during specific periods of time 

or at a specified time. In addition to specified performance requirements, contract 

requirements include those defined in the statement of work; specifications, standards, and 

related documents; the contract data requirements list; or contract terms and conditions. 

Socioeconomic programs are programs implemented through the procurement process to 

foster the achievement of national social or economic goals. The government uses its 

purchasing power as a means of promoting goals and policies such as fostering small 

businesses or providing contracting opportunities for those with disabilities. 

Cost estimate is a judgment or opinion regarding the cost of a commodity or service. A cost 

estimate is included in an offeror’s proposal and is based on the offeror’s estimate of the cost 

for the work to be performed, specifying the expected cost required to perform a stipulated 

task or to produce an item. A cost estimate may consist of a single value or a range of 

values. 
Page 6 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

Acquisition planning is the process of coordinating and integrating, through development of 

a plan, all of the steps required for the government to meet its needs in a timely fashion at a 

reasonable cost. The plan must address all the technical, business, management, and other 

significant considerations that control the acquisition. 

Market research means collecting and analyzing information about capabilities within the 

market to satisfy agency needs. It involves a process for gathering data on products’ 

characteristics as well as suppliers’ capabilities and business practices, including the analysis 

of that data to make acquisition decisions. Market research has two phases: market 

surveillance—all the activities that acquisition personnel perform continuously to keep 

themselves abreast of technology and product developments in their areas of expertise--and 

market investigation—a phase of market research conducted in response to a specific need. 

CONTRACT TYPES

Fixed-price contracts provide for a firm price set at the time of award, although in 

appropriate cases, such prices may later be subject to adjustment. Fixed-price contracts 

providing for an adjustable price may include a ceiling price, a target price (including target 

cost), or both. Unless otherwise specified in the contract, the ceiling price or target price is 

subject to adjustment only by operation of contract clauses providing for equitable 

adjustment or other revision of the contract price under stated circumstances. Types of fixedprice contracts include firm-fixed-price, fixed-price with economic price adjustment, and 

fixed-price incentive contracts. 

Cost reimbursement is a type of contract where the government agrees to reimburse the 

contractor its allowable incurred costs to the extent permitted. This type of contract 

establishes an estimate of total cost for the purpose of obligation of funds and establishes a 

ceiling that the contract may not exceed (except at the contractor’s own risk) without prior 

approval or subsequent ratification by the contracting officer. Cost-reimbursement contracts 

are suitable for use when uncertainties involved in contract performance do not permit costs 

to be estimated with sufficient accuracy to use any type of fixed-price contract. Types of 

cost reimbursement contracts include cost (no fee), cost-sharing, and a variety of cost-plusfee contracts. 

Indefinite delivery contracts include three types: definite-quantity, requirements, and 

indefinite-quantity contracts, any of which might be appropriate when the exact times or 

quantities of deliveries are unknown when the contract is awarded. A definite-quantity 

contract provides for delivery of a definite quantity of specific supplies or services, with 

deliveries to be scheduled upon order. A requirements contract provides for filling all actual 

purchase requirements of designated government activities for supplies or services during a 

specified contract period, with deliveries or performance to be scheduled by placing orders 

with the contractor. An indefinite-quantity contract provides for an indefinite quantity, within 

stated limits, of supplies or services to be delivered during a fixed period. Requirements 

contracts and indefinite-quantity contracts are also known as indefinite delivery/indefinite 

quantity (ID/IQ) contracts. These contracts do not specify a firm quantity of supplies or 

services (other than a minimum or maximum quantity) and provide for the issuance of orders 

for the delivery of supplies or the performance of tasks during the period of the contract. 

Examples of ID/IQ contracts include: 
Page 7 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

• Government-wide acquisition contract (GWAC) is a contract for information 

technology established by an agency designated as an executive agent by the Office 

of Management and Budget for use by agencies government-wide. 

• Multi-agency contract is a contract established by one agency for use by multiple 

government agencies to obtain supplies and services consistent with the requirements 

of the Economy Act. 

• Multiple award contract is a contract awarded to two or more sources for the same 

or similar supplies or services under a single solicitation. Orders placed under such 

contracts must clearly specify all the tasks to be performed or supplies to be 

delivered. In addition, agencies placing orders must ensure that each awardee is 

afforded a fair opportunity to be considered for orders exceeding $2,500. 

Time-and-materials is a type of contract that provides for acquiring supplies or services on 

the basis of 

• direct labor hours at specified fixed hourly rates that include wages, overhead, general 

and administrative expenses, and profit, and 

• materials at cost, including, if appropriate, material handling costs as part of material 

costs. 

Time-and-materials contracts require the execution of a determination and finding that no 

other contract type is suitable and that the contract includes a ceiling price that the contractor 

cannot exceed except at his own risk. 

CONTRACTING METHODS

Share-in-savings describes a contracting approach, authorized by the Clinger-Cohen Act for 

use in information technology procurements, where a contractor funds a project up front in 

return for a percentage of the savings actually realized by the contracting agency. 

Performance-based contracting is a means of structuring all aspects of an acquisition 

around the purpose of the work to be performed, with the contract’s requirements set forth in 

clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes, as opposed to specifying the 

manner by which the work is to be performed. 

Blanket purchase agreement (BPA) is a simplified method of filling anticipated repetitive 

needs for supplies or services by establishing “charge accounts” with qualified sources of 

supply. BPAs may be established under the following conditions:

• Purchases may be from a wide variety of items in a broad class of supplies or 

services, but the exact items, quantities, and delivery requirements are not known in 

advance and may vary considerably. 

• There is a need to provide commercial sources of supply for one or more offices or 

projects in a given area that do not have authority to purchase otherwise. 

• The use of this procedure would avoid the writing of numerous purchase orders. 

• There is no existing requirements contract for the same supply or service that the 

contracting activity is required to use. 

 
Page 8 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

General Service Administration (GSA) schedules, or Federal Supply Schedules, are 

indefinite-delivery contracts that GSA negotiates with commercial firms to provide supplies 

and services at stated prices for given periods of time. Customers (federal agencies) place 

orders directly with the schedule contractors. 

CONTRACT SOLICITATION, NEGOTIATION, AND AWARD 

Competition is an acquisition strategy where more than one contractor is sought to bid on a 

service or function; the winner is selected on the basis of criteria announced in the 

solicitation. The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-369) requires full and 

open competition for most government contracts. 

Cost analysis is the review and evaluation of the separate costs and profit in a contractor’s 

proposal. The purpose of the review is to determine the accuracy and reasonableness of the 

proposed costs, assuming reasonable economy and efficiency, and the proposed profit. 

Price analysis is the process of examining and evaluating a proposed price without 

evaluating its separate cost components or proposed profit. 

Price negotiation is the process of negotiating a contract’s price with the objective to 

achieve a fair and reasonable contract price. 

Request for proposal (RFP) is a solicitation used in a negotiated acquisition to 

communicate government requirements to prospective contractors and to solicit proposals 

intended to result in a contract award. The RFP contains the anticipated terms and conditions 

of the prospective contract. 

Request for quotation (RFQ) is used in federal contracting to obtain information (e.g. price, 

delivery information) from prospective suppliers. An RFQ is similar to an RFP but solicits 

information rather than offers and is not intended to result in a contract award. 

Source selection is the process of selecting a contractor in a competitive procurement and 

typically involves the assessment of contractor proposals and evaluating such factors as 

price, product or service quality, and past performance. 

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION

Contract oversight is the monitoring of the contractor’s performance by reviewing progress 

reports, making visits to the contractor, inspecting deliverables, comparing progress with 

delivery schedules and cost objectives, and advising the contracting officer of suspected 

problems with contract performance. Contract oversight starts when the contract is awarded 

and continues until the contract is closed out. 

Cost performance report (CPR) is a primary means that a contractor uses to report cost and 

schedule performance and trends to the procuring agency. 

Financial management includes the supervision or administration of payments to the 

contractor and financing issues such as obtaining the funds necessary for performance of the 

contract. 
Page 9 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

Fee administration is the administration or management of the amount paid to a contractor 

beyond allowable costs under a cost-reimbursable contract. The term “fee” is only used in 

the cost-reimbursement environment and is used to describe the contractor’s profit. The term 

“profit” is used in the fixed-price environment. A contractor’s fee may be set as a contract 

award (as in cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts) or may be allowed to fluctuate within a 

preestablished range in order to incentivize the contractor (as in cost-plus-incentive-fee 

contracts, or cost-plus-award-fee contracts). 

Subcontracting refers to a contractor’s purchase of supplies or services from another nongovernmental source for use in the performance of a prime contract or another subcontract. 

Contract closeout is the term used to describe the final settling of outstanding contractual 

issues to ensure that both the government and the contractor have completed their 

obligations. The term also includes the final documenting of the contract file to indicate 

completion of the work. A contract is complete when (1) the contractor has completed the 

required deliveries or performed the required services and the government has accepted 

them, or (2) the government has given the contractor notice of complete contract termination. 

FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT

Acquisition workforce is the personnel component of the acquisition system responsible for 

acquiring goods and services; however, the definition of the acquisition workforce is not 

consistent among federal agencies. In DOD, it is generally defined as those people, including 

contracting professionals, program managers, engineers, scientists, and logisticians who are 

responsible for managing various facets of acquisitions from the earliest phases of basic 

research to the logistical support of systems. In civil agencies, it is generally defined as 

contracting professionals. 

Information technology support includes all activities that ensure an information 

technology system meets its operational mission and supports the contracting mission. 

"Information technology" includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware, 

services (including support services), and related resources used to support the contracting 

mission by providing the appropriate data and data accuracy needed to perform the 

contracting function. 

Policy/guidance/processes includes agency regulations, instructions, or directives that 

govern how government acquisitions are carried out and contracting activities are performed. 

Funds management is the management of obligations against funds appropriated by the 

Congress and apportioned to specific activities, programs, or projects. The purpose of funds 

management is to prevent obligations in excess of the funds made available in the 

appropriation as required by the Anti-deficiency Act. 

SPECIAL TOPICS

Illegal activities are actions that do not comply with laws and regulations. 
Page 10 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

Commercial items include any item, other than real property, that is customarily used by the 

general public or nongovernmental entities for other than governmental purposes and that has 

been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; or has been offered for sale, lease, or 

license to the general public. 

E-commerce means electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions including 

electronic mail or messaging, World Wide Web technology, electronic bulletin boards, 

electronic funds transfers, and electronic data interchange. 

Intellectual property includes inventions, patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, 

technical information including software, data designs, technical know-how, manufacturing 

information and know-how, techniques, technical data packages, and manufacturing data 

packages. 

Competitive sourcing is a process used to determine if it would be more advantageous and 

cost-effective to obtain services using agency personnel or through a contract with the private 

sector. 

Prime vendor is a support concept whereby a single contractor serves as commercial 

distributor/supplier of products to various federal customers within a geographical region or 

zone. The prime vendor concept was initiated to reduce inventories and improve customer 

satisfaction. 

Purchase cards are similar in nature to a commercial credit card and are issued to authorized 

agency personnel for use at commercial establishments to acquire and pay for supplies and 

services. 
Page 11 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

Tips for Searching Catalogue of IG Contracting Reports

1. When you open the IG contracting reports file, a contracting reports form will 

appear. Please note: that you will actually be looking at a table of 

information in a form format for easy reading. There are 934 records in 

this table. Each record represents an individual IG report containing 

contracting information 

2. At the top of the form slightly to the right of the middle of the tool bar you will 

see three funnels. Place your cursor over the center funnel; this is the “Filter 

by Form” button (it will look like a funnel with a square attached to it). Click 

on this funnel, and you will get a blank form. 

3. Once in the “Filter by Form” you will see the following: 

4. Filtering to find the records you want. You can then place your cursor in 

any field (e.g., Who Did The Audit?, Report Summary, Title, Date, etc.), 

depending on the information you desire. Some fields will have drop down 

Clear Grid (Red X)

Click to clear all criteria 

prior to starting a filter

Filter by Form
Page 12 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

menus identifying specific information. For example, in the “Who Did The 

Audit?” field, you can click on the drop down menu and see all the agencies 

that have contracting information in this searchable form. 

5. Once you’ve identified the field you want to find information in (by clicking in 

it), then go to your tool bar and click on the funnel (it is the only one on the 

tool bar at this point and will be next to the right of the red “X”.) Click on this 

to apply filter and the appropriate information you are looking for will be 

identified by the number of records containing the information you want at the 

bottom of the form on the left hand side. The text will read, “Look for 

Record_________ of 297 (filtered),” for example. 

“Apply Filter”

Click “Drop Down” Button 

Select an Agency you want

Click “drop down” button 

and select the agency you want

Number of records that met the criteria

Can scroll through and look at all 

records meeting the criteria
Page 13 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

6. Let’s do some examples: 

a. How many Department of Defense (DOD) contracting reports 

are available in this table? 

Click on funnel “Filter by Form.” Place your cursor in the “Who Did The 

Audit?” field. Click on the drop down menu. Highlight “Defense IG.” Go 

to your tool bar at the top, click on apply filter funnel (as explained in 

step 5). All records meeting these criteria will now be displayed 

in the form view. You will notice on the very bottom left side of the 

form, the text for “number of records” will read as 297. This means 

there are 297 DOD IG contract records (reports). (See previous 

example.) 

b. Now suppose you want to find out how many of these DOD 

contracting reports deal with contract requirements. 

You already know that there are a total 297 DOD reports on contracting 

issues from our first search. To narrow the search to just those reports 

in DOD that deal with contract requirement issues, click on the “filter 

by form funnel” (as explained in step 2). Then look at the bottom of the 

form on the left hand side under “Contract Planning” and click in the 

box for “Requirements.” Then click on the “Apply Filter” button 

on the tool bar (as explained in step 5). Now you will notice at the 

bottom of the form that there are 69 records that meet your criteria and 

all records meeting these criteria are now displayed in the form 

view. 

Click to add additional criteria, contract planning 

“Requirements”, then click “Apply Filter”

Re-click “Filter by Form” to add more criteria -
Page 14 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

c. You are able to find additional information continuously by adding 

whatever criteria you desire, clicking on the “Filter by Form,” and then 

clicking on the “Applying Filter.” For example, if you now want to find out 

how many DOD records contain source selection information in addition to 

contract requirements information, you would click on the “Filter by Form”

then click in the box for “Source Selection” (Look for this under the 

“Contract Solicitation, Negotiation, and Award” heading). Then click on 

“apply filter” button. You will then see that there are four records that meet 

these criteria (look at the bottom left hand side of the screen where you 

will see record_______ of 4 (filtered). You can add as much information as 

you like to your search. If you decide that you want to start a new search 

click on “filter by form” and then click on the red “X” to clear the grid. 

Criteria entered

on “Look For” tab

are “and” criteria

Defense IG 

and

Requirements

and

Source Selection

Criteria entered

on “Look For” tab

are “and” criteria

Defense IG 

and

Requirements

and

Source Selection

Number of records meeting 

additional criteria Can scroll through 

and look at records
Page 15 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

7. To remove the filter and return to the original form with all records, click on 

the funnel (after in a filtered form, the funnel changes to “Remove Filter”). 

After filter is applied,

funnel changes to

“Remove Filter”
Page 16 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

8. All criteria entered on one “Filter by Form” page will result in all reports that 

meet all the criteria you have indicated. You can also build searches with “or”

criteria. For example, let’s say you now want to find out if there are also 

Army Audit Agency contracting reports that contain both contract 

requirements information and source selection information. You would once 

again click on “Filter by Form” then look at the bottom of the form on the 

left side for two tabs labeled “look for” and “or.” Click on the “or” tab. 

Then click on the drop down menu in the “Who Did The Audit?” field; highlight 

Army Audit Agency. Then, click on requirements and source selection. Click 

on “Apply Filter.” Your Army Audit Agency criteria are now added to your 

previous criteria for DOD, which was retained in the “Filter by Form.” You can 

keep adding criteria with the “or” tab. The following search will result in six 

reports (four for DOD IG and two for Army Audit Agency). 

9. You can search for individual words or phrases in various fields containing 

text (e.g., Report Title or Report Summary) using the “Filter by Form” and 

“Apply Filter.” Please note that before starting any new searches you 

should clear previous searches as described in the last sentence of step 

6.c. In the Report Summary, for example, let’s say you want to identify every 

report (out of 934) that contains the phrase “service contract.” You will 

note there is a field entitled “Report Summary.” This field provides a short 

summary of information about every report listed. Therefore, you would want 

to search in this field for the phrase “service contract.” You would first click 

on the “Filter by Form” funnel on the tool bar (as explained in step 2). Then 

click in the “Report Summary” field. Type in *service contract*. MAKE 

SURE YOU HAVE THE * AT THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF 

Click on “Or” tab. Add additional Criteria.

This filter will find all records meeting the following:

Defense IG

And

Requirements

And

Source Selection

Army Audit Agency

And

Requirements

And 

Source Selection

OR

Click on “Or” tab. Add additional Criteria.

This filter will find all records meeting the following:

Defense IG

And

Requirements

And

Source Selection

Army Audit Agency

And

Requirements

And 

Source Selection

OR
Page 17 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

YOUR PHRASE. By putting the asterisk at the end of the word “contract” you 

will get both “service contract” and “service contracts.” Putting the asterisk 

after the word “contracts” will only get the plural “service contracts.” Click on 

Apply Filter and then at the bottom of the form (as explained in step 5) you 

will notice that there are 24 reports with information on “service contract.” 

Please note that these 24 reports are not necessarily all “service 

contract” reports in the table, but represent only those with the 

phrase “service contract” in the report summary. 

10. Now suppose you want to find out if there are any Department of 

Transportation (DOT) contracting reports (audited agency) that contain the 

phrase “service contract” in the report summary. You already have criteria on 

service contract; you now just want to narrow your search to DOT. Click on 

“Filter by Form” (you will notice that the previous criteria on service contract 

is still retained in the Report Summary field). Click on the “Audited Agency”

field, highlight “Department of Transportation” and click on “Apply Filter.”

You will then notice a blank screen. This indicates that there are no DOT 

reports that have the phrase “service contract” in the Report Summary 

field. 

Enter words or phrase to search for.

Enter w ords or phrase and other criteria
Page 18 GA0-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

11. Now let’s say you want to search for all reports between a specific starting 

date and ending date. Start by clicking on “Filter by Form,” and then place 

your cursor in the “Date Issued” field. Let’s say you want to identify all 

contracting reports for all agencies in the table for 1998. Type the following in 

the date field: between 01/01/1998 and 12/31/1998, then click on “Apply 

Filter” and look at the bottom of the form on the left hand side (as explained in 

step 5). You will see that there are 162 records that meet these criteria. You 

can expand this search (as explained in the first sentence in step 6.c). 

Blank screen indicates no records

meeting criteria

Enter Date Criteria Enter date criteria
Page 19 GAO-03-504SP GAO and Inspectors General Contracting Reports 

12. Now let’s do a variation of step 11. Suppose you want to find all reports 

issued after 12/31/1997. You would clear the filter (as explained in the last 

sentence of step 6.c) and then follow what you did in step 11 only this time 

when you click in the “Date Issued” field you would type the following: 

>12/31/1997. You will notice at the bottom of the form on the left hand side 

(as explained in the last sentence of step 5) that there are 745 records that 

meet this criterion. As was previously mentioned, you could expand criteria 

on this particular search (as explained in the first sentence step 6.c.) 

Enter Date Criteria Enter date criteria