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Senators: Iraq contracts need a closer look

Two Senate subcommittee chairmen said Thursday they hope the Defense Department takes the time to better train military and civilian personnel in how to oversee contractors before launching another contingency operation.

Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., chairman of the federal financial management subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called for the extra training at a hearing focusing on the thousands of contractors hired by the U.S. to work in Iraq.

“Nearly five years after going into Iraq, we still do not know how many contractors are there,” Carper said, noting estimates ranged from 120,000 to 180,000, depending on who is asked.

“Whatever estimate we accept, one thing seems for sure: We have almost as many — and according to some estimates, more — contractors in Iraq as we do U.S. troops.”

“There is a management crisis,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the committee’s oversight of government management panel and also chairman of the Senate Armed Services readiness panel, which also oversees military contracts.

“We simply do not have enough individuals to conduct adequate contract planning, execution, and oversight,” Akaka said.

Carper said the Pentagon appears to be making progress in improving management of contractors, but more needs to be done, such as improving training for both signing contracts and then overseeing the contractors.

Lessons about problems, like the $32 million given to a Florida firm for military barriers that were never built, or $62 million for a college for Iraqi policy that lacked proper plumbing, could be incorporated into military leadership schools, Carper said.

“Unfortunately, waste, fraud and abuse are all too common in Iraq,” Carper said.

He noted that the Defense Contract Audit Agency says more than $10 billion of the $57 billion in contracts for services and reconstruction in Iraq “is either questionable or cannot be supported because of a lack of contractor information needed to assess costs.”

More than 80 separate criminal investigations into contracting are ongoing, he said.

Akaka said he hoped another lesson learned is the need to limit contracts and contract employees in future contingency operations.

“Contracting can be a valuable tool to supplement government services and fulfill our responsibilities to our troops and to the American people,” he said, “But at times it seems that this administration is turning contracts into corporate giveaways.”