From abstract: During fiscal years 1978 through 1981, the U.S. Geological Survey contracted for the acquisition and analysis of hydrologic data from 104 surface water stations, 26 ground water stations, and 15 precipitation gages as well as for several hundred miscellaneous surface water measurements of flow and water quality. The work was performed in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, terminating at the end of the fiscal year 1981. This report is an assessment of this contracting effort from the standpoint of cost and of quality control measures employed to ensure an acceptable product.