Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

WASHINGTON DC - Today, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka co-chaired a joint hearing on contracting in hostile zones.  As Chairman of two relevant subcommittees, Akaka has been working to reduce contractor waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan through oversight of federal acquisitions, ensuring an adequate federal workforce to manage and oversee contracts, and bringing an end to the "crisis of accountability" in the Bush Administration. 

The following is Senator Akaka's opening statement for the hearing:

Senator Carper, thank you for organizing this important hearing, and for conducting it jointly with the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee.

I recently held a hearing in my capacity as Chairman of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, which examined deeply-rooted problems in Army contracting.  At that hearing, we took testimony from Dr. Gansler, who spearheaded a very revealing and thorough report, which we will hear about from our second panel.

Contracting specialists are being asked to oversee an increasingly large number of contracts.  Since 1999, the number of contracting specialists has been frozen at about 30,000 at the Department of Defense, even as the number of contracts has ballooned. 

We have seen less oversight and accountability at the Department of Defense and government-wide as a result.  It seems not a week goes by where I do not see yet another news story about waste, fraud, abuse, and even violence carried out by contractors in theater. 

Last year, the Armed Services Committee heard about appalling contractor waste and abuse committed under the LOGCAP contract.  The Special Inspector General's reports likewise have painted a troubling picture of contracting failures in Iraq.

It also came to light recently that contract security officers in Iraq working for the Department of State used unjustified lethal force against Iraqi civilians.  Shockingly, it seems that these contractors are immune from prosecution under either Iraqi or U.S. law.  Most recently, we learned of contractors in Iraq committing crimes against their fellow employees including rape, with virtually no response from this Administration. 

Contracting can be a valuable tool to supplement government services and fulfill our responsibilities to our troops and to the American people.  But, at times, it seems that this Administration is turning contracts into corporate giveaways.  We must restore accountability.  Congress, the military, and the State Department must redouble their efforts to reduce the financial costs to American taxpayers - as well as tragic human costs - that can result from failures of contractor oversight and accountability.

These failures are the result of a crisis on multiple levels.  First, there is a workforce crisis.  As I noted a moment ago, the number of acquisition specialists has remained stagnant while contracting has expanded dramatically.  The shortage of acquisition workers will continue to get worse if we do not address it.  According to the Federal Acquisition Institute in their Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report on the Federal Acquisition Workforce, over half of the federal government's acquisition workforce will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years.  Many of these will be at the Department of Defense. 

Second, there is a management crisis.  We simply do not have enough individuals to conduct adequate contract planning, execution, and oversight.  Unfortunately, planning and oversight often go by the wayside so that contracting specialists can meet deadlines and get deliverables.  This is not acceptable.  The acquisition workforce needs enough competent managers to oversee the billions of dollars of taxpayers' money spent on contracts.

Finally, and most troubling, there is a crisis of accountability.  Committees from both the House and the Senate have held countless hearings on contracting problems in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past four years.  We created a Special Inspector General for Iraq.  Still, no one in this Administration has been held accountable for these failures.  Problems are consistently overlooked or ignored.

We need to shift course in the management of contracting.  While it is imperative to look at the past to find what has gone wrong, it is more important to look to what can be done better.  I fully support many of the recommendations made by the Gansler Commission and by the Government Accountability Office.  I am committed to working with my colleagues to continue oversight in this critical area, and I am equally committed to taking any necessary steps to fix these problems.  Agencies must invest more in recruiting top-quality contracting specialists to provide for oversight.  Such an investment would be far less costly than paying for more flawed, wasteful multi-million dollar contracts.

I plan to work especially vigorously on the workforce aspect of this issue in my capacity as Chairman of both the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee and the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.  I'd like to invite my colleagues here today to join me at a hearing my OGM subcommittee will hold soon on government-wide acquisition workforce challenges.  This is a serious problem throughout the government, and it needs our urgent attention. 

Senator Akaka is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.  He is also Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. 

-30-