Audit of Peace Corps/Healthcare Benefits Administration Contract

We recommend that the chief acquisition officer strengthen the Office of Acquisition and Contract Management’s written policies and procedures to provide greater assurance that: a. all acquisition planning be initiated early enough to allow for timely contract awards; and b. Peace Corps managers are strongly discouraged from relying on contract extensions when acquisition planning has been deficient and untimely.

We recommend that the chief acquisition officer follow up on OIG recommendations made in IG-10-06-A, Peace Corps’ Process for Soliciting, Awarding, and Administering Contracts (March 2010) to identify remediation measures taken as a result of the report that may have experienced relapses and ensure any deficient areas found are addressed and fully resolved.

We recommend that the chief acquisition officer ensure that all contracting personnel comply with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 6, “Competition Requirements.”

We recommend that the Peace Corps Director, as a matter of policy, before designating an agency advocate for competition, direct the chief financial officer to perform an analysis to determine whether the proposed advocate presently serves in any capacity that could potentially compromise the integrity of the agency’s competition advocacy program as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.5. If conflicts are found, the chief financial officer should notify the Peace Corps Director and seek the Director’s concurrence that the proposed advocate be designated.

We recommend that the chief acquisition officer promptly notify the chief financial officer if there are any changes in the agency advocate for competition’s assigned responsibilities that could potentially impact the integrity of the advocacy program.