Summary: Concerned that federal agencies were avoiding competitive requirements when ordering under task- or delivery-order contracts, Congress passed the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act. The act directs agencies to consider awarding multiple contracts, rather than a single contract, when a task- or delivery-order contract format was planned. This report discusses (1) whether federal agencies provided a fair opportunity for contractors to receive orders under multiple-award contracts, (2) how service fees assessed on interagency orders compared with agencies' costs to process such orders, and (3) if multiple-award contracts affected federal contracting opportunities for small businesses. GAO examines multiple-award contracts administered by six organizations--the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Department of Transportation, the General Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center's Hanscom Air Force Base operations and its Standard Systems Group.
