Q. How do I cite a government report that was prepared by a 3rd party in GSA?

You will use the organization that prepared the report as the author. If the government agency that requested it served as publisher, just include that info as publisher. If not, you will probably want to include that information somewhere else in the citation.

GSA doesn't provide very specific guidance. They ask that you try to include enough to make the source easy to retrieve and identify. I would still include the government info, perhaps where you would normally put the editor information. If there is an editor as well, place it after that.

Below is a link to our GSA guide. It also provides direct links to their site.