The Government Accountability Office revealed in a new report that the Department of Defense made progress in acquisition processes since it started collecting data for measuring procurement administrative lead time, a.k.a. PALT, in 2018 but there are gaps in data collection and monitoring of PALT on a department-wide basis.
GAO said Thursday that while there are some contracting efficiencies, award lead times vary by several factors such as total contract value, contract type, contracting approach, the extent of competition and the type of service and product procured.
DOD’s award lead times generally decreased from fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 2022 for contracts and orders valued above $250,000 but lead times increased for contracts valued over $50 million.
To improve the management of award lead times across the Pentagon, GAO recommended that DOD assess how existing procurement data can be used to monitor PALT throughout the department and determine if the PALT Tracker is necessary to supplement existing procurement data to monitor high-dollar-value procurement efforts.