Missile Defense: Assessment of Testing Approach Needed as Delays and Changes Persist

In fiscal year 2019, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) delivered many of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) assets it planned and conducted key flight tests, but did not meet all of its goals for the year. For example, MDA successfully delivered interceptors for use by warfighters and conducted a salvo test (which involves launching two interceptors at an incoming target) for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program. However, MDA did not meet all of its goals for delivering assets or testing. For example, MDA completed only two of seven planned flight tests, plus eight additional flight tests that were later added for fiscal year 2019. MDA did not fully execute its fiscal year 2019 flight testing, continuing a decade-long trend in which MDA has been unable to achieve its fiscal year flight testing as scheduled. Although MDA revised its approach to developing its annual test plan in 2009 to ensure the test plan was executable, over the past decade MDA has only been able to conduct 37 percent of its baseline fiscal year testing as originally planned due to various reasons including developmental delays, range and target availability, or changing test objectives. In addition, MDA has not conducted an assessment to determine whether its current process for developing and executing its annual test plan could be improved to help ensure its executability. Without an independent assessment, MDA will continue down the same path, increasing the risk of the same outcomes from the past decadeless testing than originally planned, resulting in less data to demonstrate and validate capabilities.

COVID-19 CONTRACTING: Observations on Federal Contracting in Response to the Pandemic

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of June 30, 2020, the United States has documented more than 2.5 million confirmed cases and more than 125,000 deaths due to COVID-19. To facilitate the U.S. response to the pandemic, numerous federal agencieshave awarded contracts for critical goods and services to support federal, state, and local response efforts. GAOs prior work on federalemergency response efforts has found that contracts play a key role, and that contracting during an emergency can present unique challenges as officials can face pressure to provide goods and services as quickly as possible. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) included a provision for GAO to provide a comprehensive review of COVID-19 federal contracting. This is the first in a series of GAO reports on this issue. This report describes, among other objectives, key characteristics of federal contracting obligations awarded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Future GAO work will examine agencies planning and management of contracts awarded in response to the pandemic, including agencies use of contracting flexibilities provided by the CARES Act. GAO analyzed data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation on agencies reported government-wide contract obligations for COVID-19 through June 11, 2020. GAO also analyzed contract obligations reported at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Homeland Security,and Veterans Affairsthe highest obligating agencies.

Federal Prison Industries: Actions Needed to Evaluate Program Effectiveness

FPI is a government owned corporation that, as a national reentry program, manages, trains, and rehabilitates inmates through employment. FPI sells inmate-produced goods and services primarily to federal government agencies. The First Step Act of 2018 authorized FPI to sell its products to new markets. A provision in the First Step Act of 2018 required GAO to review various aspects of FPI. This report addresses (1) the potential size and scope of the additional markets made available to FPI under the First Step Act;(2) the similarities and differences in selected requirements and business practices of FPI and private sector sellers of products and services;(3) customers satisfaction with FPI regarding quality, price, and timely delivery of its products and services;and (4) the extent to which BOP has evaluated the effectiveness of FPI and other vocational programs in reducing recidivism and the results. GAO examined recidivism studies and data, analyzed performance data, conducted fieldwork at four FPI facilities selected based on security level and type of products produced, met with industry associations, and interviewed agency officials and employed inmates.

Public Health Preparedness: HHS Has Taken Some Steps to Implement New Authority to Speed Medical Countermeasure Innovation

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as well as past infectious disease outbreaks such as the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak raise concerns about our nations vulnerability and capacity to prevent or mitigate potential health effects from exposure to such threats. Medical countermeasures are drugs, vaccines, and devices to diagnose, treat, prevent, or mitigate potential health effects of exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents and emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza pandemics.1 Our prior work has noted that responding to the ever-changing nature and broad array of CBRN threats often entails developing new technologies and approaches, while the process of researching and developing medical countermeasures is lengthy, complex, and expensive.2 Further, several challenges, including low profitability, intellectual property rights, and the general lack of a commercial market for some medical countermeasures may reduce incentives for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to invest time and money to develop these products instead of others that may be more profitable.3

VA ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT: Actions Needed to Improve Management of Medical Surgical Prime Vendor Program and Inform Future Decisions

VA is developing the next iteration of its prime vendor program, MSPV 2.0, to meet the healthcare needs ofabout 9 million veterans. GAOs prior work found that VA medical centers use of the MSPV formularyfell below targets in VAs prior iteration of the program and that VA lacked an overarching medicalsupply program strategy.

Information Technology: Key Attributes of Essential Federal Mission-Critical Acquisitions

The acquisition of IT systems has presented challenges to federal agencies. Accordingly, in 2015 GAO identified the management of IT acquisitions and operations as a high-risk area, a designation it retains today. GAO was asked to report on federal IT acquisitions. GAO's specific objective was to identify essential mission-critical IT acquisitions across the federal government and determine their key attributes. To identify acquisitions for the review, GAO administered a questionnaire to the 24 agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 asking them to identify their five most important mission-critical IT acquisitions. From a total of 101 acquisitions that were identified, GAO selected 16 mission critical IT acquisitions to profile in this report. The selection was based on various factors, including the acquisition's criticality to providing service to the nation, its total lifecycle costs, and its applicability to the President's Management Agenda. For each of the 16 selected acquisitions, GAO obtained and analyzed documents on cost, schedule, risks, governance, and related information;and interviewed cognizant agency officials. GAO requested comments from the 12 agencies with acquisitions profiled in its draft report and the Office of Management and Budget. In response, one agency (the Social Security Administration) provided comments that discussed the planned use of its system.