At What Cost? Contingency Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan
Abstract
Since 2001, Congress has appropriated about $830 billion to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over that period, America's reliance on contractors has grown to unprecedented proportions to support logistics, security, and reconstruction efforts related to those operations. More than 240,000 contractor employees--about 80 percent of them foreign nationals--now work in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting the Department of Defense. Additional contractor employees support the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Contract employees manage dining facilities, wash uniforms, guard military bases, protect diplomats, transport supplies, and build everything from water--treatment plants to hospitals. Contractors are doing vital work, generally to good effect, but the sheer scale of their operations and weaknesses in the federal contract-management and oversight systems create plentiful opportunities for waste, fraud, and abuse. The Commission will address nine focus areas in preparation of its Final Report. While these may be some of the most intractable issues, if successfully addressed they hold the greatest promise for significant reform in contingency contracting. They are: leadership, culture, and accountability within the key agencies responsible for contingency operations; staffing and training of the federal acquisition workforce; pre-deployment planning for contractor support and integration; policies related to inherently governmental functions; the process for defining contract requirements; contract pricing and competition; contractor performance and cost effectiveness; visibility into and accountability of subcontractors--in particular, foreign subcontractors; and the Iraq drawdown and the Afghanistan buildup.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA517313
Entities
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction