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发帖数: 901 | 1 WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has lost billions of dollars to waste and fraud
in Iraq and Afghanistan and stands to repeat that in future wars without big
changes in how the government awards and manages contracts for battlefield
support, independent investigators said Wednesday.
The Wartime Contracting Commission urged Congress to quickly put in place
dozens of its recommendations to overhaul the contracting process. The
commission even suggested that joint House-Senate debt reduction committee
take a close look at the proposals.
"What you're asking for is more of the same," said Dov Zakheim, a commission
member and a former Pentagon comptroller. "More waste. More fraud. More
abuse."
The commission, created by Congress in 2008, estimated that at least $31
billion and as much as $60 billion in U.S. money has been lost in Iraq and
Afghanistan over the past decade due to lax oversight of contractors, poor
planning and corruption.
Yet new legislation incorporating the reforms remains a challenge for
lawmakers deeply divided on the best way to reduce the deficit.
"If these recommendations are not implemented, there ought to be a Hall of
Shame," said Michael Thibault, co-chairman of the commission. "There's an
opportunity at hand."
The commission's 15 recommendations include creating an inspector general to
monitor contracting, appointing a senior government official to improve
planning and coordination, and reducing the use of private security
contractors.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who co-sponsored legislation to establish the
commission, said she plans to prepare legislation based upon the commission'
s recommendations.
The commission's report said contracting waste in Afghanistan and Iraq could
grow as U.S. support for reconstruction projects and programs wanes. That
would leave the countries to bear the long-term costs of sustaining the
schools, medical clinics, barracks, roads and power plants already built
with American money.
Overall, the commission said spending on contracts and grants to support U.S
. operations is expected to exceed $206 billion by the end of the 2011
budget year. Based on its investigation, the commission said contracting
waste in Afghanistan ranged from 10 percent to 20 percent of the $206
billion total. Fraud during the same period ran between 5 percent and 9
percent of the total, the report said.
Styled after the Truman Committee, which examined World War II spending six
decades ago, the commission had broad authority to examine military support
contracts, reconstruction projects and private security companies.
But the law creating the commission set this September as the end of its
work, even as contractors continue their heavy support of U.S. operations in
the war zones.
Security, transportation, food preparation and delivery, and much more are
now handled by the private sector. At the same time, the officials
responsible for monitoring contractor performance have been overwhelmed by
increasing reliance on private companies.
"We are far more reliant on contractors than we ever were," said commission
member Charles Tiefer, a professor of government contracting at the
University of Baltimore Law School. "We always bought munitions from them.
But we didn't used to buy much in the way of services from them."
The commission cited numerous examples of waste, including a $360 million U.
S.-financed agricultural development program in Afghanistan. The effort
began as a $60 million project in 2009 to distribute vouchers for wheat seed
and fertilizer in drought-stricken areas of northern Afghanistan. The
program expanded into the south and east. Soon the U.S. was spending a $1
million a day on the program, creating an environment ripe for waste and
abuse, the commission said.
"Paying villagers for what they used to do voluntarily destroyed local
initiatives and diverted project goods into Pakistan for resale," the
commission said.
The Afghan insurgency's second largest funding source after the illegal drug
trade is the diversion of money from U.S.-backed construction projects and
transportation contracts, according to the commission. But the report does
not say how much money has been funneled to the insurgency. The money
typically is lost when insurgents and warlords threaten Afghan
subcontractors with violence unless they pay for protection, according to
the report.
The Associated Press reported this month that U.S. military authorities in
Kabul believe $360 million has ended up in the hands of the Taliban,
criminals and power brokers with ties to both.
The military said only a small percentage of the $360 million has been
garnered by the Taliban and insurgent groups. Most of the money was lost to
profiteering, bribery and extortion by criminals and power brokers. |
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