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Federal Contracts
Recent findings, no-bid contracts accounted for 40 percent of the
Pentagon's business
The Federal Procurement Data System, maintained by the U.S. General Services
Administration through a private contractor, includes transaction-by-transaction
records related to federal contracts. The database was substantially changed
from FY2003 – in the past, only transactions of more than $25,000 were
included. In the most recent and complete data available for the 2006 fiscal
year, there are more than 3.6 million transactions documented, worth more than
$300 billion.
NICAR has data starting with the 1979 fiscal year, into the 2008 fiscal year.
Updates will occur as the agency updates the data.
The database includes services being performed or items being produced in all
U.S. states, as well as U.S. territories and some foreign countries. The list of
services or products being contracted is long, and includes: telecommunications,
maintenance, office furniture, food products, nursing home care contracts,
consulting services, military equipment, computer equipment and software,
janitorial services, removal and cleanup of hazardous materials, hotel/motel
lodging, construction of troop housing, textile fabrics and fuel products.
Approximately 70 Executive Branch agencies report their procurement contract
obligations to the FPDS. The largest exception is the U.S. Postal Service. The
Legislative and Judicial branches do not report to the FPDS.
The data also lists the contractor performing the service or providing the
product, as well as their address and the location where the work is being
performed. It's also possible to analyze contracts awarded to small and
disadvantaged businesses, veteran or women-owned small businesses, non-profit
organizations or foreign companies. The database notes where the contract was
subject to various preference programs, such as those under the Small Business
Administration's 8(a) program or the Indian/Self-Determination Act. Information
from the HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program is also included.
If you receive a state slice for 2004 and forward of this data contractors from
your state, and contracts performed in your state. For past years, it will also
include the contracting office in that state. The new data do not include that
information for the contracting offices.
NICAR has tried to fix several data problems. Most notable is the incorrect use
of state codes. For at least Department of Defense records, the data mingle
state and country codes in the same field.
This problem has been reported to the GSA and to Global Computer Enterprises.
NICAR addressed this problem in this way: We created a flag called NICARFLAG.
Most of the time, it's blank. If it contains an 'F' that means we have
identified a record that likely relates to a non-U.S. company. We did a series
of tests to determine that. It is not a guarantee, but our best guess, record by
record, of millions of lines of data.
STORIES AND TIPSHEETS FROM THE IRE RESOURCE CENTER:
To order copies one or more of following stories call the IRE RESOURCE CENTER at
573-882-3364 and give them the FILE NUMBER or TIP SHEET NUMBER. The cost is 15
cents per page for IRE members.
Story No. 21675: This study examined $900 billion in defense contracts in the
six fiscal years between 1998 and 2003. After assembling Pentagon databases into
a single table of 2.2 million records, the study identified and profiled defense
department contractors who received at least $100 million between fiscal years
1998 and 2003. Among other findings, no-bid contracts accounted for 40 percent
of the Pentagon's business in that time period.
Story No. 19602: This is a collection of six stories on House Armed Services
Committee third-ranking Democrat, Rep. Solomon Ortiz, and his influence on and
personal gain from defense federal contracts in his district.
Story No. 22663: The series examined what happened to the $21.4 billion that
President Bush promised to help New York City recover in the aftermath of Sept.
11. The results are disheartening, finding widespread waste, fraud and
mismanagement.
Story No. 20429: "Some big companies show up in government small-business
databases, inflating the apparent contract totals." Larry Margasak of the
Associated Press discovered that some of America's largest companies --
including Verizon Communications, AT&T Wireless, Barnes & Noble and Dole Food --
were mistakenly designated "small business" in the government's contractor
database. This means "the government has overstated the contract dollars going
to small business at a time when the administration of President George W. Bush
has been pressing to give smaller firms as much federal work as possible."
Moreover, the problem might not be easy to fix, as "once a company's status is
mischaracterized, it stays that way through the life of a contract, which can be
20 years." Therefore, "smaller firms the administration intended to help might
be frozen out from fresh business by bigger companies."
Tipsheet No. 929: This tipsheet provides detailed information about how beat
reporters can follow the money in contracts, purchases and grants
Tipsheet No. 1765: "This tip sheet looks at some ways to tackle the massive
military contracts database, and some pitfalls to avoid along the way."
Tipsheet No. 2642: This tipsheet is a good guide to investigating the military.
Fabey discusses how to take advantage of the military's love of records and find
the good investigative stories buried in the databases. He discusses which data
analysis programs to use, as well as how to spot the discrepancies that could
lead to a story. One very helpful think Fabey does is explain why some things,
like sudden increases in the cost of ships, may seems indicative of a good story
but are really quite routine for the military.
Record layouts and samples are attached below
By purchasing this data, you represent yourself as an IRE member and agree to
our Terms and Conditions
http://data.nicar.org/node/51 |