Summary: The Multiple Award Schedule program is designed to help federal agencies buy a wide range of commercial goods, everything from office supplies to personal computers, in a simplified way. Yet GAO found that agencies' purchasing practices under the program do not always result in the selection of the lowest overall cost alternative. For the most part, procurement offices fill user requests for a specific manufacturer's product without checking to see whether other items could satisfy the order at a lower cost. GAO found lower-cost goods and services for 19 of the 47 procurements it reviewed in depth, alternatives that might have shaved as much as 10 percent off the $3 million spent on the procurements. Further savings might have been possible had the agencies not limited purchase requests to specific manufacturers' products. Procurements under the Multiple Award Schedule program receive little management and oversight from procurement offices, federal agencies, or the General Services Administration (GSA). GSA and agency procurement officials generally agree that automating program information would facilitate product and price comparisons and promote purchases of lower-cost alternatives.
