The AOC’s authority to contract for goods and services is vested by statute in the agency head who has delegated this responsibility to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The CAO has responsibility to, among other things, administer the procurement function on behalf of AOC. AMMD, which falls under the CAO, is authorized to enter into contracts on behalf of the agency. AMMD is the primary office responsible for developing contracting policies and procedures, appointing contracting officers, and awarding and overseeing contracts. Requirements for goods and services are identified by AOC’s operational units, which consist of various jurisdictions and offices that handle the day-to-day operations including the support, maintenance, and operations of buildings as well as construction and renovation projects. While AMMD has the primary responsibility of awarding and administering contracts, AMMD often works with the AOC’s jurisdictions and offices to assist in monitoring the progress of contracts awarded to support AOC’s various projects, such as the restoration of the Capitol Dome. From fiscal years 2011 through 2015, AOC obligated, on average, $326 million annually to procure goods and services. During the 5-year period, as figure 1 shows, the level of contracting actions has generally declined while obligations on contracts and orders varied. There was a substantial increase in obligations between fiscal years 2014 and 2015 when AOC awarded a contract to begin construction for the Cannon building renewal project. The vast majority of AOC’s spending to procure goods and services stems from the agency’s jurisdictions listed below in figure 2. Among the jurisdictions, the Capitol Power Plant and the House Office Buildings collectively accounted for 55 percent of AOC’s fiscal year 2015 contract obligations. As a legislative branch agency, AOC is subject to some but not all of the procurement laws applicable to government agencies. For example, both AOC and executive branch agencies are subject to the Buy American Act and the Contracts Disputes Act of 1978. Additionally, in some instances AOC has adopted certain procurement policies and regulations it would not otherwise be subject to. For example, although not subject to the Small Business Act, AOC worked with the Small Business Administration to establish a small business subcontracting and set-aside program to help the AOC more fully utilize small businesses. In addition, AOC has adopted certain characteristics and clauses of the FAR. For example, AOC incorporates FAR clauses related to contract changes, inspections, differing site conditions, availability of funds, and terminations. According to AOC officials, incorporating FAR clauses into AOC contracts offers significant benefits because the contract clauses have been drafted and reviewed by subject matter experts across the government and are familiar to government contractors. According to AOC officials, federal case law is usually available to address any contract interpretation issues. Our previous work has shown that acquisition planning, market research, and competition are key foundations for successful acquisition outcomes. Acquisition planning is the process by which agencies establish requirements and develop a plan to meet those requirements. Generally, project and contracting officials share responsibility for acquisition planning activities intended to produce a comprehensive plan for fulfilling the agency’s needs in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost. Our past work has found that acquisition planning is strengthened by documenting decisions to guide existing acquisitions and capturing important lessons and other considerations that can be used to inform future procurements. Market research is the process of collecting and analyzing data about capabilities in the market that could satisfy an agency’s needs. It is a critical step in informing decisions about how best to acquire goods and services. Effective market research can help agencies determine the availability of vendors to satisfy requirements and improve the government’s ability to negotiate fair and reasonable prices. Competition is the cornerstone of a sound acquisition process and a critical tool for achieving the best return on investment for taxpayers. Using full and open competitive procedures to award contracts means that all responsible contractors are permitted to submit offers. The benefits of competition in acquiring goods and services from the private sector are well established. Competitive contracts can help save taxpayer money, conserve scarce resources, improve contractor performance, curb fraud, and promote accountability for results. AOC developed a contracting manual to provide guidance for agency officials responsible for purchasing goods and services. The manual was implemented in April 2014 and includes guidelines on topics similar to those included in the FAR. AOC’s contracting manual outlines procedures and guidance for acquisition planning, market research, and competition. In general, for the 21 contracts and orders we reviewed, AOC officials implemented procedures related to these critical functions, such as documenting justifications for the use of noncompetitive procedures, in a manner consistent with the manual. AOC has identified competition as a key objective, and the agency tracks the number of sole-source awards and percentage of dollars obligated under sole-source awards. However, the agency conducts limited analysis of the factors driving the number of sole-source awards or the level of competition achieved across different product types. Such analysis could help identify where additional management attention may be needed to maximize competition to the fullest extent. In 2014, AOC issued a contracting manual that incorporates statutes and federal regulations applicable to the AOC, as well as internal policies in order to provide uniform policies across the agency and guidance to personnel. The AOC Inspector General had previously found that while AOC had developed procurement policies, orders, and procedures, they were not consolidated in one location, which made it difficult for AOC staff to access. The manual covers topics central to AOC day-to-day contracting functions, such as acquisition planning, market research, and competition, all of which we have previously found to be key aspects of a sound acquisition process. AOC started requiring written acquisition plans in August 2012, approximately 18 months prior to the publication of the contracting manual. Though AOC staff engaged in acquisition planning to inform procurement decisions before August 2012, plans were not consistently documented, according to contracting officers. Further, AMMD officials stated that another reason they started requiring acquisition plans was to help enforce acquisition timeframes agreed upon by the office that needed the acquisition and contracting officers. According to officials, the requiring offices consistently missed important deadlines, oftentimes resulting in lengthy acquisition cycles. As a result, AMMD implemented the requirement for written acquisition plans to help alleviate this problem. AMMD officials believe that requiring written acquisition plans has helped shorten acquisition timeframes. AOC developed a template to assist staff in preparing written acquisition plans which, in turn, helps to ensure key information is considered and captured for each acquisition. AMMD officials are considering options to revise the template staff use to document acquisition plans so that it is more adaptable to the specific circumstances of a procurement. As shown in table 1, the AOC manual shares some common acquisition planning principles with the FAR. On all the contracts and orders we reviewed, we found that the AOC conducted acquisition planning. AOC’s practices generally met the agency’s requirements for acquisition planning, including preparing written acquisition plans, addressing the prospects for competition, and involving the appropriate stakeholders in the planning process, among other things. Of the 21 contracts and orders that we reviewed, seven files required written acquisition plans, based on the dollar threshold outlined in the contracting manual, as well as timing of the requirement, and five of those seven files had written acquisition plans. For the remaining two files that required acquisition plans, AMMD officials cited an administrative oversight and a requirement to use a mandatory service provider as the reasons for not preparing a written acquisition plan. In addition, we found that two other files contained written acquisition plans even though they were not required. The contracting officer on one of those projects, the Refrigeration Plant Revitalization project, stated that while not required, a written acquisition plan was completed due to the cost, complexity, and visibility of the project. The AOC’s contracting manual requires that a written plan be completed well in advance of when an acquisition is needed but does not establish timeframes for how far in advance acquisition plans should be completed. AMMD officials noted that the nature and complexity of the acquisition—such as a new or recurring requirement—determines the extent of advance preparation needed to develop the acquisition plan. As a result, AOC did not establish specific timeframes in the contracting manual. As shown in table 2, AOC has implemented market research policies in its manual that shares some common principles with the FAR. In our review of AOC practices, we found that they generally met the requirements to conduct and document market research activity. We found that AOC employs a number of different ways of conducting market research that reflect what is in the contracting manual. For instance, AOC will often invite vendors to a potential construction worksite before publicizing a solicitation. This helps AOC identify potential qualified vendors and also allows vendors an opportunity to learn more about the requirement and determine if they want to make an offer on a project. We found that AOC held industry days for 5 of the 21 contracts and orders we reviewed for projects such as the Cannon Renewal project, the Dome Restoration project and the replacement of the skylight in the Hart Building, among others. Another example of market research that AOC performed was the use of a “sources sought” notification to determine the capabilities of the marketplace. For the 21 contracts and orders in our sample, we found that market research was documented in different ways. For instance, if a contract had an acquisition plan associated with it, the market research performed for that requirement would be documented in the acquisition plan. Additionally, we found contracting officers would document what research was performed and the results of those searches in memoranda contained in the contract files. AMMD officials stated that they are taking action to improve the quality of market research conducted, which is typically performed by the requiring office. AMMD plans to provide market research training in 2016 to enhance staff’s knowledge of how to conduct and document effective market research.