Commission on Wartime Contracting

Special Report 5: Sustainability: hidden costs risk new waste

issued June 3, 2011

Special Report 4: Iraq — a forgotten mission?
The United States needs to sustain a diplomatic presence to preserve gains and avoid waste as the U.S. military leaves Iraq

issued March 1, 2011

Special Report 3: Better planning for Defense-to-State transition in Iraq needed to avoid mistakes and waste

issued July 12, 2010

Special Report 2: Lowest-priced security not good enough for war-zone embassies

issued October 1, 2009

The Commission issued its second Special Report, "Lowest-priced security not good enough for war-zone embassies," to urge that Congress change a statutory restriction on the State Department's ability to choose security contractors for its Foreign Service buildings based on any considerations other than lowest price and technical acceptability. The Commission believes that the unintended consequences of the mandate were illustrated in poor contract performance and widely publicized misconduct by guards for the embassy in Kabul. The State Department is on record saying contractor performance endangered the embassy and its personnel. The report urges allowing use of the "best-value" standard for evaluating contract offers.

Special Report 1: Defense agencies must improve their oversight of contractor business systems to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse

Issued September 21, 2009

On August 11, 2009, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan conducted a hearing to obtain testimony from government officials and contractors on the adequacy of contractor business systems. The Commission learned that unreliable data from business systems produced billions of dollars in contingency-contract costs that government auditors often could not verify. The government’s ability to detect contract cost errors and material misstatements is seriously impeded by contractors’ inadequate internal controls over their business systems. Further, the two primary government agencies involved, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), are not effectively working together to protect government interests.

The Commission recommends: (1) Department of Defense (DoD) needs to ensure that government speaks with one voice to contractors; (2) DoD needs to improve government accountability by rapidly resolving agency conflicts on business systems; (3) DCAA needs to expand its audit reports to go beyond rendering a pass/fail opinion; (4) DCMA needs to develop an effective process that includes aggressive compliance enforcement; and (5) DCAA and DCMA need to request additional resources and prioritize contingency-contractor oversight workload.