The Commission of Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan said at least $31 billion – and as much as $60 billion – has been lost in contract waste and fraud during contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“In particular, we commend the commission for shining a spotlight on the risks of over-reliance on contractors, on the need to strengthen the contracting function at the agencies, on the value of increasing competition in contracting and on the importance of holding contractors accountable for their performance,” said Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan.
According to the Defense Department, DoD already is working on many of the lessons learned from experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We have already implemented a number of steps to improve contingency contracting based on the department’s own analysis, as well as recommendations from the independent reviews of the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general and the commission’s previous publications and interim reports,” he said.
Lapan said the department has added more than 9,000 contracting officials in an effort to make sure money is spent more efficiently in the future.
