Analysis of Contractor Data in Federal Acquisition Databases

Abstract

The publicly accessible acquisition databases at www.usaspending.gov and www.fpds.gov contain rich contract information from all U.S. departments for the last two decades. Hidden in these huge data repositories may be patterns that are unknown yet potentially useful for acquisition research and practice. This proposal is a continuation of the last two years of research that were included in the Acquisition Research Program Symposium. It aims to utilize information from the web to identify the distribution of federal contractors in areas at high risk of natural disasters. The work is part of an ongoing research project whose ultimate goal is to develop a risk assessment framework that can help acquisition decision-makers assess potential risks to a supply chain or project and mitigate such risks.