Bipartisan Commission Cracks Down On Wasteful Spending In Iraq, Afghanistan

By Rachel Christiansen

The Commission on Wartime Contracting estimates that the U.S. has wasted roughly $177 billion in fraudulent and wasteful spending over the 10 years it’s spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former Defense Department official suggested to the commission Monday that there be less focus on punishing contractors that demonstrate fraudulent activities and greater emphasis on incentives to encourage contractors to exceed expectations.

“Missing is a discussion of creating incentives to reward outstanding performance, such as awarding contractors with follow-on work, if they achieve higher performance at lower costs,” said Jacques Gansler, former Under Secretary of Defense and now a public policy professor at the University of Maryland.

The Department of Defense is under the magnifying glass as Congress attempts to become more frugal in its operation and track nearly every federal dollar spent. 

The commission - which was created by Congress in 2008 to reveal fraud, waste and abuse - addressed the mismanagement of federal wartime contracts, saying negative repercussions, while sometimes warranted, do nothing to prevent fraudulent practices.  

“The focus on punishments, like suspension and debarment, comes at the expense of incentives,” said Gansler.  

The proposal for targeted focus on incentives comes just days after DynCorp International LLC settled a $7.7 million lawsuit to resolve allegations that it submitted inflated claims for the construction of container camps at various locations in Iraq.