View From the Hill
Written by Rep. Vic Snyder
Uncle Sam Needs You More Than Ever.
To support our nation’s missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have collectively awarded thousands of contracts worth billions of dollars and have hired an “army” of contractors. Today, there is at least one contractor for every servicemember in Iraq, and roughly two for each servicemember in Afghanistan. The departments and agencies were not well prepared to handle the management of this large number of contracts and contractors, nor were any prepared to effectively coordinate their respective contracting activities. Much of this challenge was because the departments and agencies lacked the contracting professionals necessary to manage all of these contracts and contractors. The qualified and dedicated contract managers that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan were overwhelmed by the workload.
We have also lacked a focused plan for our use of contracts and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently called the department’s use of contractors “willy nilly.” The result has been negative. We’ve seen fraudulent activity, wasted resources and abused authority. Who pays? We all do. Certainly the American taxpayer pays. Our government employees in the field, both in and out of uniform, suffer if they don’t get what they need, and ultimately the mission suffers.
Since the Revolutionary War, our military has had to rely on contractors and merchants for support. From the beginning, our military has paid when this support has been poorly managed. The worst maritime disaster in U.S. history was the sinking of the contractor- operated steamboat Sultana. The SS Sultana was contracted to carry Union POWs home after the Civil War. It took on more than 2,000 passengers even though its legal capacity was 376. When a faulty boiler exploded, the Sultana sank and some 1,700 lives were lost.
On today’s battlefield, poor contract management can also compromise the safety of deployed military and civilian personnel and the contractors who support them. A tragic example is the accidental electrocution of several servicemembers (and contractors) apparently due to faulty electrical wiring in shower facilities and elsewhere on military bases in Iraq.
Congress and the federal agencies have been active in trying to fix contract management problems. Our oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee recently held two hearings to review the DoD, Department of State, and USAID’s progress in complying with statutory requirements to improve contingency contracting management and coordination in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the solutions require restoring capabilities that have been allowed to atrophy.
Over the last 15 years there has been a deliberate effort by Congress and the executive branch to reduce the size of government and convert government jobs to contractor positions. Ironically, while reducing the government work force, we reduced the number of contract managers needed to manage the rapidly increasing size of the contractor work force and the increasing money flowing into the contracting system. The Army has started to reconstitute its severely depleted contracting work force. All of the military departments are working to ensure they establish career paths up through general and flag officers to attract qualified military personnel to the field. Government civilians must also have appropriate training and viable career paths if we’re to hire and retain the very best.
Other solutions require breaking new ground. Military commanders and their subordinates define the requirements for battlefield contract support. They are also responsible to monitor the execution of the contract. These roles and responsibilities need to be taught and included in training exercises for all military leaders— officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians. We are starting to see progress in this area, but there must be a permanent cultural change in how DoD treats contracting and contractor support. Contracting needs to become more like operating a radio in the military, where everyone knows the basics, but all depend on our highly valued communications specialists.
Having more military contracting officials and engaged leaders who emphasize the ethical responsibilities of the job will reduce criminal activity. When the government is spending lots of money, the temptation to grab a little is hard for some to resist; contractors, federal civilian employees, and unfortunately, a few of our men and women in uniform have been caught cheating the system. The secretary of the Army’s commission to review contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, commonly known as the Gansler Commission, found that most of the personnel under investigation were not trained contracting specialists—they were civilians and soldiers who were thrust into a job for which they had little, if any, technical or ethical training. Moreover, Army leadership did not provide consistent oversight and guidance.
The manner in which we use contractors on the battlefield is hotly debated— and rightfully so, especially for certain jobs like private security. While we may reconsider some of the jobs given to contractors, we will likely require a large number of contractors for future military operations. As in past wars, contractors are needed on the battlefield to do everything from maintaining our high-tech military to feeding the troops. Our military forces are already stretched to meet deployments. Without a large increase in our military force end-strength—which is highly unlikely in the near term—few contractor positions will be handed over to the military.
To rebuild in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need local contractors to manage a variety of jobs from laying brick to building governance capacity. Most of these contractors will be less likely to support anti-government groups when gainfully employed in these construction efforts. In this sense, use of host-nation contractors, or contractors who hire locally, is an important tool for counterinsurgency. If we fail to properly manage these efforts though, we risk losing the local population’s confidence in coalition forces and the newly formed governments. We risk mission failure.
Progress toward competent management of contracts has been made. Last year, DoD, State and USAID negotiated a congressionally mandated memorandum of understanding to coordinate contracting activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have now agreed to use a common database to increase visibility across agencies and to enhance our ability to track contracts and contractors: to know where they are, what they are working on, how much we are paying them, and how that work is proceeding, not to mention how to provide for their safety. While this progress is good, more work still needs to be done.
Success on today’s battlefield requires better coordinated management and oversight of contractor support. We have sent dedicated and qualified contract specialists from DoD, State, USAID and other federal agencies to manage the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they have been outnumbered. It’s up to us in Congress and DoD leadership in the Pentagon to improve our capacity to contract. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to monitor the agencies’ progress and ensure that the men and women we send to the field have the training, tools and capacity to perform their jobs. Uncle Sam needs these dedicated professionals more than ever. ♦
Rep. Vic Snyder represents the 2nd Congressional District of Arkansas.