The OIG has released a management assistance report recommending that a contractor’s cooperation clause should be inserted into State Department contracts.
The clause, which already exists in most other agency contracts, would require contractors to grant OIG access to all records and employees.
The Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) requires that department contractors and subcontractors promptly and without interference or undue inquiry provide requested assistance and information to OIG personnel.
In March 2017, OIG began discussions with the department to request the addition of a provision to the Department of State Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR). This provision would mandate insertion of a clause requiring cooperation with OIG into all department contracts. Despite numerous discussions, the department still has not added a cooperation clause to the DOSAR.
In addition, the department requires similar language with regard to grants. In particular, every grant must contain a provision requiring grantees to give OIG “timely and unrestricted access to any books, documents, papers, or other records… that are pertinent to the award, in order to make audits, examinations, excerpts, transcripts, and copies of such documents.”
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, should amend the Department of State Acquisition Regulation to require contracting officers to include a provision requiring contracting officers to insert a clause in all current and future contracts that stipulates contractors of the DoS must cooperate fully with the OIG.