Hurricane Katrina Recovery: Contracts Awarded by the Federal Government
CRS Report for Congress
Hurricane Katrina Recovery: Contracts
Awarded by the Federal Government
L. Elaine Halchin
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Summary
Information about contracts and other types of government procurements made in
support of hurricane recovery efforts may be obtained online from the Federal
Procurement Data System (FPDS), the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command websites.
The government-wide database, FPDS, provides the most comprehensive and detailed
information, but the other three websites include contracts not currently listed in FPDS.
Available information about government procurements includes, among other things,
the type of award (for example, a contract or a delivery order), the type of contract, and
the extent of competition.
Sources of Information about Contracts and Other
Types of Awards
Information about contracts and other award types related to Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita is available from several sources, including:1
!Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), at [https://www.fpds.gov].
!Department of Homeland Security (DHS), at [http://www.dhs.gov/
dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0729.xml]. (Information about
contracts awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) is available at this website.)
1 Other types of awards, or procurement vehicles, are delivery orders, task orders, purchase
orders, and blanket purchase agreements. See below for more information. For information
about contracting opportunities, see CRS Report RS22280, Hurricane Katrina Recovery:
Contracting Opportunities, by L. Elaine Halchin.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress
!U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), at [http://www.usace.army.
mil].
!U.S. Navy, Military Sealift Command (MSC), at [http://www.
procurement.msc.navy.mil/Contract/Welcome.jsp]. (The Military Sealift
Command is the agency that awarded four contracts for four cruise ships
to house evacuees in the Gulf Region.2)
The Federal Procurement Data System is a government database that contains
detailed information about contracts that have been awarded; task, delivery, and purchase
orders that have been issued; and purchases that have been made under blanket purchase
agreements (BPAs). Three spreadsheets are available on the FPDS website: Hurricane
Katrina contract information, Hurricane Rita contract information, and contract
information for other disasters that occurred in 2005. Although agencies are required to
submit information to FPDS about contracts and other types of awards that exceed $2,500
in value, it is likely, as noted at the beginning of the three spreadsheets available on the
FPDS website, that not all contracting actions have been entered into FPDS yet.3
Nevertheless, with more than 2,500 contracting actions listed by late October from many
different agencies, and the use of 50 FPDS data elements to describe the contracting
actions, FPDS spreadsheets offer the most comprehensive picture of emergency
contracting. 4
Contracting information available from the other three sources — FEMA (via the
DHS website), USACE, and MSC — is not included in the FPDS spreadsheets. As noted
on the FPDS spreadsheets, some contracting officials may not have access to the
necessary computer systems or may not have time to submit information to FPDS. This
caveat may also apply to FEMA. In the case of USACE and MSC, the Department of
Defense (DOD) has not completed its connections to FPDS, though it expects to do so
sometime in FY2006.5 Thus, very few DOD contracting actions are listed on the
Hurricane Katrina spreadsheet.
2 Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Temporary Housing for Hurricane Katrina Evacuees
Includes Cruise Ships, FEMA Reports,” news release HQ-05-204, Sept. 4, 2005, available at
[ ht t p: / / www.f e ma .gov/ news/ newsr e l ease_pr i nt .f e ma?i d=18606] .
3 FAR § 4.602. “FAR” refers to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which is Title 48, Parts 1-53
of the Code of Federal Regulations.
4 FPDS supports 160 data elements, which are described in the GSA Federal Procurement Data
System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) Data Element Dictionary, available at [http://www.
fpds-ng.com/downloads.html]. Examples of data elements are vendor name, type of contract,
extent competed, and principal place of performance.
5 Katherine V. Schinasi, Managing Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, U.S.
Government Accountability Office, letter to Joshua B. Bolten, Director, Office of Management
and Budget, Improvements Needed to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation,
GAO-05-960R, Sept. 27, 2005, pp. 2-3, available at [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/
d05960r.pdf].
Basic Information about Procurements
While the information presented here applies to government procurements generally,
the information is provided to aid specifically in understanding the FPDS spreadsheets.
Information listed on the FPDS spreadsheets includes the date that a transaction was
signed; the date that the parties (that is, the government and a company) agreed would be
the starting date for the contract’s requirements, which may be the same as the date
signed; the current completion date, which is the completion date of the base contract plus
any options that have been exercised; the dollar value of the contract or other award; and
the name and location of the vendor.6 Although the definition of “current completion
date” does not mention, for example, delivery orders (DOs), it seems likely that
completion date entries for DOs indicate the date by which deliveries are to be completed.
Types of Awards
The type of award an agency makes for a particular procurement depends, at a
minimum, on whether the required items or services are available from an existing
contract, a federal supply schedule, or a blanket purchase agreement.
!A blanket purchase agreement (BPA) is a “charge account” with
qualified sources of supply. Generally, BPAs are used by agencies to fill
anticipated repetitive needs for supplies or services.7
!A contract is a mutually binding legal relationship which obligates a
vendor to provide goods or services and the government to pay for them.8
!A delivery order or a task order (TO) is used to purchase supplies or
services, respectively, from an established government contract or with
government sources.9 When this procurement vehicle is used, it is said
that the agency “placed a task (or delivery) order against a contract.”
!A purchase order (PO) is an offer by the government to buy supplies or
services, under specified terms and conditions and using simplified
acquisition procedures, from a vendor.10
6 Global Computer Enterprises, Inc., GSA Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation
(FPDS-NG) Data Element Dictionary, pp. 21-23. If an agency exercises a (contract) option, it
is permitted “an increase in the quantity of supplies beyond that originally stipulated or an
extension in the time for which services on a time basis may be required.” (Defense Acquisition
University, “DAU Glossary, Version 11, plus Updates,” available at
[http://akss.dau.mil/j sp/Glossary.j sp].)
7 FAR § 13.303-1.
8 FAR § 2.101.
9 FAR § 2.101.
10 Ibid. Generally, agencies are to use simplified acquisition procedures (SAP) for purchases of
goods or services valued at more than $2,500 but less than $100,000. (FAR § 13.003.)
Types of Contracts
Several different types of contracts are available to contracting officers and
contractors, and contracting officers have many factors to consider when selecting which
type of contract to use for a particular procurement. Factors include type and complexity
of the agency’s requirement, urgency of the requirement, performance period, and the
extent and nature of proposed subcontracting.11 The following contracts have different
pricing arrangements:
!Fixed-price contracts “provide for a firm price or, in appropriate cases,
an adjustable price.... A fixed-price contract with economic price
adjustment provides for upward or downward revision of the stated
contract price upon the occurrence of specified contingencies.”12
!Cost-reimbursement contracts “provide for payment of allowable
incurred costs, to the extent prescribed in the contract.”13
!Time-and-materials contracts provide “for acquiring supplies or services
on the basis of — (1) Direct labor hours at specified fixed hourly rates
that include wages, overhead, general and administrative expenses, and
profit; and (2) Materials at cost, including, if appropriate, material
handling costs as part of material costs.”14 Labor-hour contracts are “a
variation of the time-and-materials contract, differing only in that
materials are not supplied by the contractor.”15
A fixed price or cost-reimbursement contract that includes an incentive may be referred
to as an “incentive contract.” Incentive contracts “are appropriate when ... the required
supplies or services can be acquired at lower costs and, in certain instances, with
improved delivery or technical performance, by relating the amount of profit or fee
payable under the contract to the contractor’s performance.”16 Another variation is called
the “indefinite-delivery contract,” which is “used to acquire supplies and/or services when
the exact times and/or exact quantities of future deliveries are not known at the time of
contract award,” and which is sometimes referred to as an “indefinite-delivery/indefinite-
quantity (IDIQ) contract.”17
11 FAR § 16.104.
12 FAR §§ 16.201 and 16.203-1(a).
13 FAR § 16.301-1.
14 FAR § 16.601(a).
15 FAR § 16.602.
16 FAR 16.401(a).
17 FAR §16.501-2(a). It is possible that yet another type of contract, called the “letter contract,”
was used by federal agencies to procure goods and services urgently needed during the immediate
aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Letter contracts are “written preliminary contractual
instrument[s] that authorize the contractor to begin immediately manufacturing supplies or
performing services” (FAR § 16.603-1).
Procurement Instrument Identifier (PIID)
For every contracting action reported to FPDS, the procuring agency must assign a
unique identifier — a procurement instrument identifier (PIID). Agencies are responsible
for developing their own PIID coding schemes, but they must use alphabetical characters
in the first positions to indicate the agency; assign alphanumeric characters to identify the
appropriate office or administrative subdivision; and, similar to the assignment of
numbers sequentially to public laws, assign numbers sequentially to contracting actions.
Agencies may add other information, such as fiscal year, to their PIIDs. The Federal
Procurement Data Center is required to maintain a registry of agencies’ coding schemes
and validate their use in all transactions.18
Competition
Full and open competition, which “means that all responsible sources are permitted19
to compete,” is the policy of the federal government. However, exceptions are
permitted. One category of exceptions provides for full and open competition after
exclusion of sources. Procurements that are set aside for certain types of small businesses
belong to this category, because large businesses are excluded from competition.20
Other than full and open competition, which is popularly referred to as “no bid” or
“sole source” contracting, is permitted under seven circumstances: only one responsible
source exists, and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements; an
unusual and compelling urgency for supplies or services exists; the government needs to
achieve industrial mobilization, establish or maintain an essential engineering or research
and development capability, or obtain expert services; an international agreement or treaty
precludes full and open competition; a statute authorizes or requires that supplies or
services be procured through another agency or from a specified source; disclosure of an
agency’s needs could compromise national security; and it is in the public interest not to21
conduct a full and open competition.
Two columns on the FPDS spreadsheets — “Extent Competed” and “Reason Not
Competed” — provide competition information about each procurement. While some
spreadsheet entries include the phrase “other than full and open competition” or “full and
open after exclusion of sources” for the former column, and the appropriate reason why
there was no or limited competition, other entries refer to other types of limitations on
procurements. For example, an agency might indicate that a particular procurement was
“not available for competition,” and then, as the reason, cite the Javits-Wagner-O’Day
(JWOD) Act, which mandates that organizations that employ individuals who are blind22
or severely disabled are a required source of supplies and services for federal agencies.
18 FAR § 4.602(e).
19 FAR §§ 2.101 and 6.101.
20 FAR Subpart 6.2.
21 FAR § 6.302.
22 41 U.S.C. §§ 46-48c.
The FPDS data dictionary provides descriptions for the different entries permitted in these
two columns.
Interagency Contracting
The term “interagency contracting” has several meanings. Perhaps the best known
example is when agencies purchase goods and services from a federal supply schedule
that has been established and is maintained by another federal agency, such as the General
Services Administration (GSA).23
Another type of interagency contracting occurs when agency A purchases goods or
services on behalf of agency B, which funds the purchase. An examination of the FPDS
spreadsheets indicate that numerous purchases were made using this method. The
purchasing department, and agency or office, if applicable, are listed in columns A and
B, respectively. The funding agency code is located in column M.24 Apparently, if there
is no entry in column M for a particular procurement, the department identified in column
A funded the procurement. Conversely, there are many procurements for which the entry
in column M does not match the department and agency identified in columns A and B.
For example, GSA purchased goods and services that were paid for by the Air Force, the
Army, DHS, FEMA, the Navy, and an office within the Department of Health and Human
Services.
Type of Business or Organization
A useful feature of FPDS is that it allows agencies to identify a contractor by type
of organization or business, such as tribal government, small disadvantaged business,
educational institution, woman-owned business, veteran-owned business, and nonprofit25
organization. The three hurricane-related spreadsheets available at FPDS use this
information to show what type of organization was involved in each procurement.
Conclusion
The data provided through the FPDS website and the other websites listed above
provide a degree of transparency in what is often a murky process and can be used to
analyze hurricane-related recovery procurements.
23 Access to GSA’s schedules is available at [http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?
contentId=8106&contentT ype=GSA_OV ERV IEW].
24 Funding agency codes are available from the FPDS website.
25 Global Computer Enterprises, Inc., GSA Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation
(FPDS-NG) Data Element Dictionary, pp. 115-140.