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GAO-09-114R 1 (2008-11-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacdkt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A 0 .,! = Accountability * Integrity Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 November 20, 2008 The Honorable Carl Levin Chairman The Honorable John McCain Ranking Member Committee on Armed Services United States Senate The Honorable Ike Skelton Chairman The Honorable Duncan L. Hunter Ranking Member Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives Subject: Contract Management: DOD Developed Draft Guidance for Operational Contract Support but Has Not Met All Legislative Requirements The U.S. military has long used contractors to provide supplies and services to deployed U.S. forces as well as for post-conflict support.' The Department of Defense's (DOD) use of contractors has grown significantly to the extent that the force in Iraq is composed of approximately 143,000 military personnel and 149,000 DOD contractor personnel. Congress, GAO, and others have frequently reported on or expressed concerns about the long-standing challenges that DOD faces when managing operational contract support.2 These challenges include a failure to adequately plan for the use of contractors, poorly defined or changing requirements, a lack of deployable contracting personnel with contingency contracting experience, and difficulties in coordinating contracts and contractor management across military services in joint contingency environments. Furthermore, as we have previously reported, DOD has not provided a sufficient number of trained contract oversight and management personnel in contingency operations, and visibility of contracting activities and ' Contractors supporting deployed forces refer to Department of Defense contractor personnel who are authorized to accompany U.S. military forces in contingency operations or other military operations or exercises designated by the geographic combatant commander. 2 DOD defines operational contract support as the process of planning for and obtaining supplies, services, and construction from commercial sources in support of joint operations along with the associated contractor management functions. In the past, DOD has used the term contractors accompanying the force to encompass the process the department now refers to as operational contract support. The following report discusses long-standing challenges DOD faces with regard to contractor management and oversight: GAO, Military Operations: High-Level DOD Action Needed to Address Long-standing Problems with Management and Oversight of Contractors Supporting Deployed Forces, GAO-07-145 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 18, 2006). A list of selected GAO reports related to this topic is included in this report. GAO-09-114R Contract Management

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