Auditability In The U.S. Navy: A Knowledge Assessment of the Contracting Workforce

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DOD) has some problems in its contracting workforce that makes the department susceptible to procurement fraud. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, $285 billion was spent on federal contracts. In FY 2015, the DOD increased its obligation to $290 billion. The DOD committed more money than all other government agencies combined. In total, the U.S. Department of Justice in its annual evaluation stated that there were 4,801 United States government-wide fraud investigations in 2015. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the knowledge level of Navy contracting professionals regarding procurement fraud. The research method included a survey that contained questions regarding contract management processes, internal control components, and procurement fraud schemes. The results of this research identified differences levels of fraud knowledge and perceptions of an organization's vulnerability to procurement fraud. The other two aspects of auditability are effective internal controls and capable processes. Having strong auditability in an organization would help to identify susceptibilities to procurement and assist in reducing vulnerabilities. Based on the results of the survey, recommendations are provided to the Navy for improvement of organizational auditability related to contracting.