Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the General Services Administration's (GSA) Federal Telecommunications System 2000 (FTS 2000) and Technical Assistance and Management Services (TAMS) procurements, focusing on the: (1) potential conflict of interest involving a former GSA contracting officer; (2) role of a firm in helping GSA prepare the FTS 2000 solicitation and that firm's eligibility for award of the TAMS contract; and (3) extent to which the GSA Inspector General (IG) investigated these matters.
GAO found that GSA: (1) determined that a potential conflict of interest existed between a contracting officer's duties relating to the FTS 2000 procurement and his spouse's employment with a telecommunications firm; and (2) transferred the officer to other procurement duties 4 months after he notified his supervisor of the potential conflict of interest. GAO also found that: (1) the firm did not perform work in any of three separate contracts GSA awarded for development of the FTS 2000 solicitation, although it submitted offers; (2) the solicitations for those contracts did not contain provisions precluding any offerer, including the firm, from submitting offers or participating in the TAMS contract; (3) the TAMS contract restricted the awardee from participating in the FTS 2000 procurement; and (4) the firm had not done any work for GSA related to the FTS 2000 procurement. In addition, GAO found that the IG: (1) had not performed any audit or investigative work on these concerns; and (2) plans to audit the TAMS contractor's effectiveness and the TAMS contract award and administration.
