Forensic Audits and Investigative Service Team

The Government Accountability Office Forensic Audits and Investigative Service is the independent agency component responsible for GAO's investigative and forensic audit functions. The office operates as a sub-agency within GAO, which itself is a legislative-branch agency reporting to Congress and charged with auditing and investigating federal programs and activities.

The Forensic Audits and Investigative Service has awarded 23 federal contracts since 2014, with a combined potential value of $124 thousand and $73 thousand obligated to date. Recent contract activity is sparse and episodic: 4 awards in 2017, 1 in 2018, 2 in 2021, 5 in 2022, and 3 in 2023. The most recent award closed on October 11, 2023. The low dollar volumes and small award counts reflect the office's specialized mission—most work is likely performed in-house or funded through personnel and operational budgets rather than through contractor-delivered services.

The competitive landscape over the last five years is highly fragmented. The top five primes by award count (Free State Reporting, Inc.; Hunt Reporting Co; Neal R. Gross And Company, Inc.; ACE Federal Reporters, Inc.; and Heritage Reporting Corporation) collectively hold 9 of the recent awards, with each receiving only one or two contracts. No single vendor dominates; coverage is 100% of recent awards across these five firms, but only 15% of combined potential value concentrates there—indicating that most recent contracts are small and distributed. The 11 distinct prime contractors awarded across the portfolio history underscore the fragmented nature of this procurement stream.

The set-aside mix skews heavily toward open competition: 83% of awards (19 contracts) carry no set-aside designation, while 13% (3 awards) are designated for small-business concerns. This distribution is consistent with the office's small contract volumes and the commoditized nature of the goods and services procured—primarily court reporting and similar support services captured in these small awards.

No recent contract opportunities are recorded against the office. The sparse award cadence, small dollar values, and three-year gap since the most recent award suggest this is not an active procurement channel for external vendors at present.