The Government Accountability Office has analyzed governmentwide contracting data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation database and found that spending on contracts at defense agencies declined by about 32 percent from $399 billion in fiscal year 2011 to $274 billion in FY 2015.
GAO said in a report released Thursday that civilian agencies’ spending on goods and services obligated through contracts stayed stable over five years, while the percentage of obligations for competitive contracts remained steady at approximately 64 percent.
The report showed that agencies allocated at least $430 billion on contracts for products and services in FY 2015, a figure that accounts for nearly 40 percent of the total discretionary spending.
The congressional budget watchdog also found that the use of fixed-price contracts by federal agencies stayed stable at 63 percent between FY 2011 and FY 2015.
