Transparency And Resources Needed To Combat Waste, Fraud And Abuse Among Contractors, Say Officials

By Alexa Gitler-Talk Radio News Service

A number of government officials tasked with overseeing contractors told the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan Monday that additional transparency and resources are needed to help combat waste, fraud and abuse.

James Burch, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations with the Department of Defense, claimed that “different cases take different lengths of time” and that the money allocated to the Inspector General's office in order to efficiently prosecute every case necessary would need to be more.

Agreeing with him was Deputy Inspector General Ginger Cruz of the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), who stated that, "the amount of resources given are not going to be equal to those of larger agencies and that because of this, smaller agencies have to come up with more creative ways of dealing with their problems.”

While witness Raymond DiNunzio, Assistant Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), felt that “[SIGAR has] the adequate resources, personnel, and budget to fulfill our mission,” but that the challenge of identifying and punishing fraud was with the foreign contractors and subcontractors not being held accountable for their actions.

“Oversight is the biggest issue that we have in contract fraud and abuse, lack of oversight,” said DiNunzio.

Contractors In Afghanistan May Need More Time, New Teaching Models

by Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico

The Congressionally-mandated Commission on Wartime Contracting held a hearing Friday on the issues that arise due to paid contractors training Afghani police and military forces. During the question and answer period, the issue of responsibility was one that neither the United States nor Afghanistan could claim to own, at least according to the witnesses.

During the hearing, Defense Department Assistant Inspector General Kenneth Moorefield said that contractors bring important skill sets to Afghan soldier training, but admitted that because of the current model of service, contractors may not be providing as much help as they could.

“It was our view then [September 2009], and our recommendation in the report, that tour lengths be extended to a minimum of one year for all military services,” Moorefield said, in reference to a DoD report on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In addition, I noted in my remarks that contracting representatives had been serving only three to six month tours, which created less than stability in their carrying out their oversight responsibilities.”

Moorefield added that the value of “getting to know your counterparts is a very challenging process... and developing a relationship is everything.”

Developing relationships has been a problem Moorefield said, particularly because of cultural and competency differences between Afghani and U.S. troops.

The assistant inspector said that members of the Afghani police and the Afghanistan National Security Forces don't share the same sense of responsibility as U.S. military servicemen do, and emphasized that the learning methods aren't the same, which he says, is a recipe for training difficulties.

The U.S. capacity to train the Afghan police was also questioned, particularly because of the previous resource emphasis placed on the Afghan military.

The responsibility of managing contracted military services, as far as those committed to training Afghan police, is in the process of switching hands, moving from the State Department to the Department of Defense.

David Johnson, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement said the success of a full transition between the the DoD and State Department will be largely dependent on who is awarded the next contracting agreement, but added, "I think the plan is largely in place, but in order to have a plan where one partner is handing a task to another, you have to have another partner... but all of the things have been done to prepare, the inventories and things of that nature."

KBR Overstaffing Costs U.S. Nearly $200 Million

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

April Stephenson Director, of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, brought attention to the KBR Corporation Monday, stating that the large defense contractor could save the U.S. nearly $200 million by more effectively managing their work-force.

"In October 2009, we issued a report concluding that KBR's drawdown was ineffective and KBR could save the government at least $193 million by improving the staff management and aligning their labor drawdown with the military drawdown," said Stephenson during her testimony before the Commission on Wartime Contracting.

KBR has been in the spotlight recently for its inaction to reduce contract employees, which is now overstaffed by nearly 3000 employees. The KBR Corporation has continuously increased their employee levels while American troops steadily leave the Iraq.

Stephenson has recently moved from her position as Director of the DCAA to new position within the Department of Defense.