WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General is auditing the Missile Defense Agency’s Target and Countermeasures Program to find out whether it has broken contracting rules, according to an Oct. 15 memorandum the inspector general released publicly Nov. 3.

The memo does not say what contracts the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General is auditing, only that the audit will examine whether the correct procurement actions were taken during the solicitation, award and administration phases of “targets and countermeasures contracts.”

The Missile Defense Agency buys targets and countermeasure systems from multiple suppliers.

Several MDA and contractor locations will be involved in the audit, which is the second of two investigations involving target contracts, according to the memo.

Mike Gruss covers military space issues, including the U.S. Air Force and Missile Defense Agency, for SpaceNews. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.