Oversight Of Iraq Contracts Is Shifted Amid Army Probes

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Philadelphia Inquirer
January 16, 2008 By Richard Lardner, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Oversight for nearly $4 billion in Iraq war contracts has been shifted from a troubled procurement office in Kuwait to an Army organization in Illinois as part of an ongoing effort to curb waste, fraud and abuse in military purchasing.
The change in control of the 12 contracts for maintenance and other support work is not a reflection of poor performance by the companies, said Mike Hutchison, deputy director for acquisition at the Army Sustainment Command in Rock Island, Ill. Rather, the transfer is part of a broader initiative aimed at overhauling the Kuwait contracting office, which the Army has identified as a hub of corruption.
In a separate action, two teams poring over hundreds of other contracts issued by the Kuwait office have referred an unspecified number of awards to criminal investigators and auditors for further review, according to the Army Materiel Command at Fort Belvoir, Va. If any wrongdoing is uncovered, the number of Army military and civilian employees accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks could grow. More than 20 have been charged so far.
The Kuwait contracting office, located at Camp Arifjan, buys gear and supplies to feed, clothe and house U.S. troops as they move in and out of Iraq. The pace of that operation grew rapidly after the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.
An initial Army probe of the Kuwait office uncovered numerous problems, including inadequate staffing and oversight, high staff turnover and poor record-keeping.
In the last few months, new leadership has been installed and more officers assigned. The Army also transferred active contracts worth $1 million or more to Sustainment Command, where there is a deeper pool of personnel with experience in complex acquisitions.
The work being done under the dozen support contracts includes janitorial services, transportation, operation of a firing range, and provision of security at U.S. installations.
The largest of the dozen contracts now being managed by Sustainment Command is held by Combat Support Associates. The California company gained notoriety for hiring the former Blackwater USA guard accused of killing an Iraqi in Baghdad in December 2006. Hutchison said that the command had reviewed the Combat Support contract and found areas that could be improved, but that the Army was satisfied with the company's record.
The contract-review teams also examined a sampling of the roughly 6,000 contracts worth $2.8 billion issued by the Kuwait office since 2003. One team inspected 339 contracts under $25,000 in value; another checked 313 contracts worth more than $25,000.
Both found problems and alerted the Army Audit Agency and the Army Criminal Investigation, but no details were released.
The Criminal Investigation Command has 87 ongoing investigations related to allegations of contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. Twenty-four people have been charged with contract fraud, and more than $15 million in bribes has changed hands, spokesman Chris Grey said.
 
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