For nearly 25 years, the United States has provided the Cuban people with alternative sources of news and information. In 1983, Congress passed the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act to provide the people of Cuba, through Radio Martí, with information they would not ordinarily receive due to the censorship practices of the Cuban government. Subsequently, in 1990, Congress authorized BBG to televise programs to Cuba. According to BBG, the objectives of Radio and TV Martí are to (1) support the right of the Cuban people to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers; (2) be effective in furthering the open communication of information and ideas through use of radio and television broadcasting to Cuba; (3) serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of accurate, objective, and comprehensive news; and (4) provide news, commentary, and other information about events in Cuba and elsewhere to promote the cause of freedom in Cuba. OCB employs several avenues to broadcast to Cuba, including shortwave, AM radio, and television through various satellite providers and airborne and ground-based transmitters (see fig. 1). IBB’s international broadcasters generally must comply with the provisions of the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (commonly known as the Smith-Mundt Act), as amended, which bars the domestic dissemination of official American information aimed at foreign audiences. In 1983, however, the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act authorized the leasing of time on commercial or noncommercial educational AM radio broadcasting stations if it was determined that Radio Martí’s broadcasts to Cuba were subject to a certain level of jamming or interference. Similarly, in 1990, the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act authorized BBG to broadcast information to the Cuban people via television, including broadcasts that could be received domestically, if the receipt of such information was inadvertent. BBG has interpreted the act to allow OCB to use domestic television stations. In fiscal year 2007, OCB obligated over $35 million in support of its mission. As shown in figure 2, OCB obligated about 50 percent of this amount to salaries, benefits, and travel for OCB employees and 41 percent on mission-related contracting efforts. OCB obligated nearly $3 million to procure talent services. Federal statutes require, with certain limited exceptions, that contracting officers shall promote and provide for full and open competition in soliciting offers and awarding government contracts. The FAR states that full and open competition, when used with respect to a contract action, means that all responsible sources are permitted to compete. The process is intended to permit the government to rely on competitive market forces to obtain needed goods and services at fair and reasonable prices. When not providing for such competition, the contracting officer must, among other things, justify the reason for using other than full and open competition, solicit offers from as many potential sources as is practicable under the circumstances, and consider actions to facilitate competition for any subsequent acquisition of supplies or services. For contracts that do not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold—currently $100,000 with limited exceptions—contracting officers are to promote competition to the maximum extent practicable. In December 2006, IBB awarded contracts to two Miami-based radio and television broadcasting stations, Radio Mambi and TV Azteca, to broadcast Radio and TV Martí programming, respectively. IBB justified the use of other than full and open competition on the basis of two specific statutory authorities cited in the FAR—that there was only one responsible source capable of meeting the agency’s needs and that there was an unusual and compelling urgency to award the contract. Table 1 provides selected information on the two contracts. OCB’s talent services contracts typically fall below the simplified acquisition threshold and therefore are solicited and awarded directly by OCB. OCB generally awards each talent services contractor a blanket purchase agreement, which provides OCB a simplified method of obtaining specific services as needed during the course of the year. On a quarterly basis, OCB places orders against the agreements, specifying the anticipated amount of services required during that period. While certain competition requirements do not apply below the simplified acquisition threshold, contracting officers are to promote competition to the maximum extent practicable. IBB’s approach for awarding the Radio Mambi and TV Azteca contracts did not reflect sound business practices in certain key aspects. IBB’s approach was predicated on the confluence of several interrelated events—ongoing interagency deliberations, the issuance of a July 2006 report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, and concerns about the health of Fidel Castro. According to BBG and IBB officials, these events required a course of action to obtain additional broadcasting services to Cuba quickly by using other than full and open competition. In certain respects, however, IBB did not document in its contract files key information or assumptions underlying its decisions to not seek competitive offers, limit the number of potential providers it considered, or the basis used to negotiate the final prices for the services provided. In addition, IBB did not actively involve its contracting office until just prior to contract award. Finally, while justifying the December 2006 award of the two contracts on the basis of urgent and compelling need and the determination that only one source would meet its minimum needs, IBB chose to exercise multiple options on the two contracts to extend their period of performance into 2008 and has only recently taken steps to identify additional providers. Our prior work has found that establishing a valid need and translating that into a well-defined requirement is essential for federal agencies to obtain the right outcome. Our review of IBB’s contract files and interviews with program and contracting officials identified several interrelated events that established the need to increase radio and television broadcasting to Cuba. BBG and IBB officials noted that beginning in the spring of 2006, agency officials were involved in interagency discussions with officials from the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other agencies on the need to expand broadcasting options. These discussions coincided with the issuance of the July 2006 report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which recommended funding the transmission of TV Martí by satellite television. The report did not provide a time frame in which this was to be completed, nor did it address expanding radio broadcasting. Additionally, BBG and IBB officials noted that shortly after the release of the report there was widespread concern about the health of Fidel Castro and that his death could result in unrest in Cuba, adding to the urgency to find additional ways to broadcast news to Cuba. IBB officials told us that based on their internal deliberations and discussions with other agencies involved, it was clear that the expectation was for IBB to quickly identify additional broadcasters, including radio providers, and award the resulting contracts quickly to address potential unrest in the event of a transfer of power. IBB officials were unable to provide documentation of certain classified aspects of the deliberations, or the specific time frame in which these activities were to be completed. Given this expectation, IBB subsequently decided against seeking competitive offers from radio and television broadcasters. IBB officials told us they believed they could not do so for several reasons, including concerns that publicly seeking competitive offers would not yield responses from potential service providers that met its needs; advertising its plans would alert the Cuban government of IBB’s intentions, which might enable Cuba to jam the new broadcasts; and IBB had not discussed its plans with cognizant congressional committees and, in particular, its efforts to comply with the Smith- Mundt Act and other relevant legislation. IBB officials determined that they would limit the number of providers they would consider and quickly developed a set of basic requirements that broadcasters would need to meet. For radio, IBB wanted a Spanish- language station with the strongest AM signal to reach as much of Cuba as possible. To do so, officials with IBB’s Office of Marketing and Program Placement stated they reviewed a prior consulting study and broadcasting databases maintained by the Federal Communications Commission, and consulted with OCB on Cuban listening habits. For television, IBB wanted a station with a limited domestic audience and one that had a contract with DirecTV, since the DirecTV signal can be received in Cuba. At IBB’s request, OCB provided a list of Miami channels carried by DirecTV, highlighting three Spanish-language stations and one English-language station for consideration. BBG and IBB officials subsequently told us that their decision to limit television broadcasters to the Miami area was based on information that indicated that DirecTV receivers in Cuba likely came from the Miami area and therefore were programmed to receive only Miami television stations. A senior IBB official provided IBB’s Office of Engineering a list of four radio and three television stations and requested that the office assess the extent to which the television stations’ signals were viewable in the United States and the extent to which the radio stations’ signals would reach Cuba. Office of Marketing and Program Placement officials then made two trips to Miami to meet with and determine these stations’ willingness to broadcast Radio and TV Martí programming. In making their recommendation for a radio broadcaster to a senior IBB official, Marketing and Program Placement officials concluded that Radio Mambi provided the most powerful signal among those stations surveyed that could reach most of Cuba. IBB officials acknowledged, however, that this station was likely jammed in Havana as there is a Cuban station that broadcasts on the same frequency as Radio Mambi. IBB officials believed that broadcasting on two frequencies that cover most of Cuba would be the most effective way to overcome the Cuban government’s jamming efforts. In recommending a television broadcaster, Marketing and Program Placement officials initially recommended a television station (other than TV Azteca) based on the station’s verbal offer to split its DirecTV signal, enabling it to broadcast TV Martí programming only to Cuba and not to domestic audiences.