Analysis of trends from DoD–level peer–reviewed contracts

Abstract

Department of Defense (DOD) spending has been steadily increasing ever since the early 1990s. During that period, the acquisition workforce has steadily declined. This situation resulted in an undermanned and undertrained contracting workforce with an increased workload. With the workforce spread thin, lapses in contracting processes occurred. As a result of these issues, in 2008, the DOD established the requirement for independent management reviews, or peer reviews, of contractual actions. Since the onset of the peer-review requirement, the Defense Procurement Acquisition Policy (DPAP) has maintained a database of peer-review results. Data analytics were used to analyze the frequency of occurrences of the data elements within the DPAP database of peer-review results in an effort to answer two research questions. First, are there trends within the peer-review results of DOD-level peer-reviewed contracts? Second, are any trends identified related to the competency gaps identified in the 2007 Department of Defense Contracting Workforce Competency Assessment Final Report? Trends within the data elements present in the DPAP database of peer-review results were identified. Certain categories garnered more attention of the peer-review teams. Based on trends identified, recommendations are provided to improve the overall usefulness of the DPAP database of peer-review results.