NEED TO CONSIDER MORE ECONOMICAL SOURCES OF SUPPLY FOR COMPONENTS Procurement of equivalent plug-to-plug compatible components Savings available by using plug-to-plug compatible components Government-wide benefits immediately available Tape drives Disk drives Third-party leasing arrangements Technical characteristics Recommendation Procurement of components that are not plug-to-plug compatible from the original manufacturer Procurement of components from alternate sources of supply Potential savings available by using components that are not plug-to-plug compatible Recommendation Competitive procurement of magnetic disk packs 45 6 67 96 10 NEED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARD INTERFACE 29 Recommendations Page FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN MAKING PROCUREMENT DECISIONS 31 31 Need for electronic or software interface 32 Maintenance responsibility and availability Maintenance problems anticipated by Government managers Contract terms 32 2344555 34 35 35 32 33 34 COMPTROLLER GENERAL'S STUDY OF THE ACQUISITION OF PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT DIGEST WHY THE REVIEW WAS MADE The General Accounting Office (GAO) performed this study because of: --Preliminary indications that significant savings could be achieved in the procurement of selected --The increasing investment of the Federal Government --The widespread congressional interest in the procurement, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS Recently, numerous independent manufacturers of peripheral The study shows that it is common practice for Government GAO identified selected computer components that are directly GAO found that a number of private organizations had installed could provide impetus which would achieve similar savings in On the basis of observations at commercial organizations visited GAO believes that, if more systematic attention is given to GAO estimates that, if plug-to-plug compatible components were (See GAO believes that, in addition to the estimated savings in acquiring plug-to-plug compatible components, savings are also available in the acquisition of non-plug-to-plug components from sources other than the systems manufacturers. It is estimated that the purchase cost of such components, now GAO suggests, however, that the potential savings must be evaluated in light of costs associated with combining the components into a total computer system. RECOMMENDATIONS OR SUGGESTIONS GAO recommends that the head of each Federal agency take immediate action to implement steps requiring replacement of leased components that can be replaced with more economical plug-to-plug compatible units. GAO recommends also that the Director, Bureau of the Budget, GAO recommends that, pending the issuance of specific policies, the factors described in this report be used by Federal agencies to evaluate alternate sources of ADP equipment. Also, inasmuch as third-party leasing arrangements generally result in savings when compared with rental arrangements available from equipment manufacturers, GAO believes that the head of each Federal agency should consider this method of procurement when purchase of the equipment is determined not to be advantageous. AGENCY ACTIONS AND UNRESOLVED ISSUES The use of plug-to-plug compatible components for Federal ADP MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE CONGRESS This report summarizes the findings of the study and is issued |