Pentagon set to meet deadline for reporting on technology purchases

The Defense Department is on track to meet a congressionally mandated deadline of March 15 for modifying its data-collection systems on purchases of information technology products and services, according to a General Accounting Office report released Tuesday.

Under the fiscal 2001 defense authorization act, Defense was directed to collect specific procurement data beginning Oct. 30, 2000. The department was planning to spend $20.3 billion on information technology in fiscal 2001, GAO said in its report, "Defense Acquisition: Collection and Reporting of Information Technology Purchases" (GAO-02-331).

Defense now collects IT procurement data centrally, and both military services and civilian agencies began collecting the mandated data on Oct. 1, 2001, GAO said.

The data includes which products or services are purchased and for how much, whether they are commercial items, and how the purchase was completed. It also will show how competitive the process was and the type of business from which the purchase was made.