Testing and Evaluation Guide: Best Practices for Commercial Off-the-Shelf Systems (Exposure Draft)

Why GAO Did This Study From September 2026 through December 2026, GAO is seeking input and feedback on this exposure draft from all interested parties. Please use this link TEGuideComments@gao.gov to provide us with comments on the guide. Federal agencies spend billions of dollars each year buying commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products. When agencies want to buy a COTS product, first they need to determine whether a vendor’s product is right for them. One way that agencies assess a product is by conducting testing and evaluation (T&E). Agencies can then use the results of the T&E to inform their purchasing decisions. Prior GAO work has identified problems with how agencies conduct T&E. Also, there is no widely accepted process or organization for sharing best practices for T&E. GAO developed this guide to provide best practices for conducting COTS T&E. GAO has developed this guide to serve multiple audiences: The primary audience for this guide is federal agencies—specifically, T&E practitioners, program managers, and procurement officials. Agency staff can implement the best practices in this guide to improve their T&E, procure effective technologies, and reduce risks of cost and schedule overruns. GAO and other oversight organizations can use this guide to evaluate how effectively federal agencies conduct T&E when buying a COTS product. Vendors can use this guide to evaluate the performance of their products against agency requirements. For more information, contact Karen Howard at HowardK@gao.gov.

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