Executive Summary
The TBIPS Amendment Problem
Analysis of 674,885 federal contracts (2015-2025) — does TBIPS produce systematically worse procurement outcomes?
TBIPS Amendment Rate
worth $8.4B
Gap
2.5x
more likely to be amended
IT Services Rate
worth $9.7B
Core Comparison: Task-Based Vehicles vs IT Services
TBIPS = IT task-based. TSPS = non-IT task-based (management consulting, engineering, temp help). Both use the same procurement model. IT Services comparator excludes hardware, telecom, licensing, subscriptions.
| Metric | TBIPS (IT) | TSPS (Non-IT) | IT Services | TBIPS / IT Svcs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts | 11,572 | 3,373 | 13,659 | — |
| Total value | $8.4B | $1.7B | $9.7B | — |
| Amendment rate | 64.6% | 51.5% | 26.0% | 2.5x |
| 3+ amendments | 21.5% | 14.4% | 5.7% | 3.8x |
| Mean amendments | 1.51 | 1.09 | 0.50 | 3.0x |
| Median value growth | 100% | 80% | 65% | — |
| Scope creep >2x | 50.4% | 45.2% | 41.9% | — |
| Avg contract | $729K | $498K | $708K | — |
| Median contract | $234K | $180K | $63K | — |
Why We Separate IT Subcategories
The IT contract pool includes hardware, telecom, and subscriptions alongside professional services. These categories have very different amendment profiles. Including them in the comparator would artificially suppress the baseline rate, making TBIPS look worse than it actually is.
| IT Subcategory | Contracts | Total Value | Avg Contract | Amend Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT Professional Services | 13,659 | $9.7B | $708K | 26.0% |
| Telecom | 3,469 | $6.2B | $1.8M | 26.1% |
| Hardware / Goods | 3,213 | $954.9M | $297K | 10.8% |
| Subscriptions / Data | 4,009 | $462.6M | $115K | 12.0% |
| Software / Licensing | 1,317 | $462.5M | $351K | 12.1% |
| Other IT | 2,015 | $2.6B | $1.3M | 22.1% |
This table shows non-TBIPS IT contracts only — the pool from which the IT Services comparator is drawn. The IT Services comparator uses only the IT Professional Services row, excluding hardware, telecom, licensing, and subscriptions for a fair peer comparison against TBIPS.