Blog · Test and Evaluation

GAO Wants Input on the Yardstick It Will Use to Judge COTS Testing

Chris A. Grable · September 14, 2026

The Government Accountability Office is drafting the standard it will use to judge whether an agency tested a commercial product properly before buying it, and it wants outside input before that standard is final. The exposure draft, Testing and Evaluation Guide: Best Practices for Commercial Off-the-Shelf Systems (GAO-26-108068), runs 60 pages. Any interested party may comment through 14 December 2026 by writing to TEGuideComments@gao.gov.

The problem GAO describes

Federal agencies spend billions of dollars a year on commercial off-the-shelf products. GAO's examples range from airport security scanners to sensors in ship navigation systems. Before buying, an agency tests and evaluates the vendor's product to see whether it will meet the need. GAO reports that its past work found problems in how agencies conduct that testing, and that no widely accepted process or organization exists for sharing best practices.

Three readers, one of them an auditor

The guide is written for three groups:

1. Federal test practitioners, program managers and procurement officials, who plan and run the testing.
2. GAO and other oversight bodies, which can apply the guide when judging whether an agency tested adequately before buying.
3. Vendors, who can check their products against what agencies require.

The second group is what makes the comment window matter. Once final, this document is the measure an auditor holds up against an agency's test program. An agency that knows it may be audited against the guide has every reason to shape its test plans to fit it, and those test plans are what a vendor's product must pass.

Who should comment

Companies that sell commercial products to the government, and the organizations that test them, hold the practical experience of what works in a test event and what does not. UDC recommends that they read the draft against their own recent test events and tell GAO, before 14 December, which practices are realistic and which would add cost without adding confidence. Input offered during the exposure period shapes the first edition. GAO expects to update the guide over time, but once published, agencies and auditors may use it to assess testing.