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The Wartime Contracting Commission urged Congress and the Obama administration to quickly put in place its recommendations to overhaul the contracting process and increase accountability. The commission even suggested that the 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 the Pentagon comptroller during President George W. Bush's first term. "More waste. More fraud. More abuse."
The bipartisan commission, created by Congress in 2008, estimated that at least $31 billion and as much as $60 billion has been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade due to lax oversight of contractors, poor planning, inadequate competition and corruption. "I personally believe that the number is much, much closer to $60 billion," Zakheim said.
Yet new legislation incorporating the changes could prove difficult with Republicans and Democrats divided over the best way to reduce the deficit.
Several of the proposals would require new spending, the commission acknowledged, and that would be a hard sell in an election year when reducing the size of government is a priority for many. Other proposals would cost little or simply require money to be shifted from one account to another, the panel said.
"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 war zone contracting and operations, appointing a senior government official to improve planning and coordination among federal agencies, reducing the use of private security companies, and carefully monitoring contractor performance.
Rep. John Tierney, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee, said Wednesday that the commission's findings are "alarming." Tierney said he plans to introduce legislation next week to create the inspector general's post.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate's contracting oversight subcommittee, 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.
'It is disgusting'
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. Fraud includes bribery, kickbacks, bid rigging and defective products, according to the commission.
"It is disgusting to think that nearly a third of the billions and billions we spent on contracting was wasted or used for fraud," McCaskill 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.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
MANILA, Philippines - GMA ups its ratings and programming ante, now running ahead of competition in national TV ratings. This value won for the network 40 percent of advertisers’ TV ad spending (based on ratecards) from July until this month.GMA 7 won over other mainstream TV channels in terms of audience share from all over the Philippines, according to the recent household data of the ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.From a 2.8-point margin over chief rival ABS-CBN in total day average household audience share in National Urban Television Audience Management (NUTAM) last month, GMA stretched the gap by 3.2 points in partial August (until Aug. 16; Aug. 7 to 16 based on overnight data), garnering a total of 34.6 points. The lead this month translates to 119,973 households or almost 600,000 more viewers.According to Nielsen, the Kapuso channel is ahead in the key markets of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, respectively, comprising 77 percent and 58 percent of total TV households nationwide.GMA’s primetime block was ahead by 1.7 points in Urban Luzon while in Mega Manila, GMA had a gap of 4.5 points with 35.2 points as against competition’s 30.7.The lead of GMA in Urban Luzon translates to 63,061 households or 315,305 more viewers during primetime. Meanwhile, the Kapuso Network’s 4.5 lead in viewer-rich Mega Manila translates to 134,646 households or 673,230 more viewers using an average of five viewers per TV household.For July, GMA was dominant in the Top 30 programs in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila with 20 entries. Amaya and Munting Heredera were the top two programs in the areas, while TV’s longest-running noontime variety show Eat Bulaga ranked third.Meanwhile, GMA’s afternoon block (from 12 nn to 6 p.m.) remains a showcase of programs with storylines friendly to both viewers and advertisers - the company’s key stakeholders.GMA had six entries in the overall Top 10 weekday afternoon programs in NUTAM, including Blusang Itim, Sinner or Saint and Sisid. From a 13.1-point lead in NUTAM in the afternoon block last month, the gap grew to 15.9 household share points in partial August with GMA scoring 41.1 points.In terms of number of televiewers, the lead of 15.9 points equaled to 600,265 households or over three million more viewers nationwide were attuned to GMA’s afternoon block this partial August.Still in the afternoon block, GMA Network garnered 45.9 household audience share points in Urban Luzon this partial August, a 26-point lead that translates to 759,282 households or almost 3.8 million more viewers. In Mega Manila, GMA gathered 47 points, a 28.7-point lead that translates to 647,938 households or over 3.2 million viewers in the afternoon block.The Nielsen TV Audience Measurement is used by 21 companies including two other local networks, namely, TV5 and Solar Entertainment.
The new RAF Nimrod is one of the BAE projects scrapped as a result of spending cuts Military spending cuts have led to a drop in profits at UK defence company BAE Systems.
