According to a report published March 28, the Defense Department held fewer competitions for contracts in FY12 than in FY08, declining in total by 5.5 percent during the four-year span. The majority of the non-competitive contract awards were tagged as having only a single company able to do the work, justifying a sole-source award.

In FY12, the DOD obligated $359 billion through contracts and task orders, of which $205.3 billion, or 57%, went to competitive awards. In 2008, DOD obligated 62.6 % of its money through the competitive process, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in its analysis of spending data.

The 2012 competition rate varied widely across the services.. The Air Force had the lowest competition rate at 37.1%. The Defense Logistics Agency had the highest rate at 83.3%.