Streamlining DOD's Contracting Process: Reducing Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT)

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report titled "Defense Contracts: Better Monitoring Could Improve DOD's Management of Award Lead Times," which delves into the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to manage and monitor the time it takes to award contracts, also known as Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT). The report emphasizes the importance of PALT as a criterion for assessing contracting efficiency and its impact on the department's ability to buy goods and services on time.

According to the GAO's analysis, the median PALT for DOD contracts valued at more than $250,000 decreased from fiscal year 2019 to 2022. This trend indicates that the DOD has made progress in streamlining its procurement processes since it began collecting PALT data in 2018. However, the research notes that PALT varies depending on a number of criteria, including total contract value, contracting approach, contract type, level of competition, and type of product or service bought. Notably, median PALT values increased for contracts and orders worth more than $50 million, indicating that higher-value contracts may necessitate extra effort to shorten lead times.

The report's major finding is a lack of department-wide monitoring of PALT. According to the GAO, DOD does not regularly evaluate PALT data across the department, which limits its ability to detect trends and areas that may require policy changes or management involvement. This lack of monitoring impedes the DOD's ability to make educated judgments to increase the efficiency of its contracting processes.

Furthermore, the paper raises concerns about the PALT Tracker, a program used by the DOD to track PALT for procurements above $250 million. The GAO discovered that the PALT Tracker had data gaps and is deemed cumbersome by DOD components. Incomplete data and the tool's perceived redundancy with other systems have hampered its utility as a monitoring tool.

Based on these observations, the GAO makes several suggestions to improve DOD's handling of PALT. First, it advises that DOD look into how existing procurement data may be used to frequently monitor PALT across the department. This would allow DOD to identify issues that may require policy, guidance, or management attention at the component level. Second, the paper suggests that DOD assess whether the PALT Tracker is required to enhance existing procurement data for tracking high-dollar acquisitions. If the PALT Tracker is deemed required, the GAO recommends that actions be taken to increase its completeness, such as ensuring that all components use an application programming interface for automatic data transfer.

Finally, the GAO study emphasizes the need of monitoring PALT as a crucial statistic for assessing the effectiveness of the DOD's contracting process. By resolving the issues raised in the report, DOD can improve its capacity to acquire products and services in a timely and effective way, eventually meeting its mission and operational requirements.