Past Performance as an Indicator of Future Performance: Selecting an Industry Partner to Maximize the Probability of Program Success

Abstract

The federal contracting process should enable a government organization to select a contractor that will become a true business partner. Today's source selection processes provide opportunities to evaluate how well a contractor proposes a solution; however, the government's processes, policies, and tools are ill suited to evaluating how well a contractor can be expected to deliver on its proposed solutions. Like most government agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD) relies too heavily on the contractor's proposal what the contractor claims it can do versus evaluating past performance to determine what a contractor has proven it can do. The lack of adequate past performance data and of processes to effectively evaluate the qualifications of companies, including examples of the contractor's trustworthiness and key personnel, has contributed to a series of program failures, cost overruns, and schedule delays. Without adequate data and processes to address these issues, the DoD runs the risk of duplicating these program failures and missing the opportunity to capture this information and prevent repeated mistakes with the same contractor.