Contracting Officer Warranting Program Meets Federal Requirements but Could Be Strengthened

VA has one of the largest acquisition functions in the federal government; its contracting officers obligated approximately $36.9 billion in fiscal year 2020 alone. A warrant gives federal contracting officers the authority to obligate taxpayer dollars. VA’s contracting officers help serve our nation’s veterans by procuring the goods and services required for their care and support. However, there have been long-standing concerns with VA’s contracting officer warrant program. Since 2015, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued multiple reports in which warranted contracting officers exceeded their authority or made decisions that put veterans and VA facilities, resources, and information systems at risk. In addition, VA’s acquisition management has been included on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list. The OIG conducted this review to determine whether VA had an effective contracting officer warrant program. The OIG found that while VA’s contracting officer warrant program complied with Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements, opportunities exist to strengthen the program. VA lacked assurance that all contracting officer warrants were justified and necessary. Additionally, VA did not have sufficient data to effectively staff and distribute contracting officers’ workload. The OIG also found that additional guidance would be useful in determining when and how to reinstate warrants to individuals with past performance issues. Improved consistency in other areas, such as warrant board procedures, officer selection, and warrant transferability, would also strengthen the program. The OIG made three recommendations to strengthen VA’s warrant program, to include assessing the warrant justification template, determining whether to implement additional formalized procedures to monitor contracting officer workload, and increasing the consistency and standards of practices.