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President Cheney) has apparently made it a convenient whipping boy. Rep. Henry Waxman (D
– Calif.) has been among the chief accusers. A pattern has developed in which Rep. Waxman
makes public pronouncements and posts information on his website whenever a review or
investigation of KBR billings or other action is undertaken, making much of the fact that the
Army or an audit agency has initiated an investigation. Later, when KBR is cleared or its billings
substantially approved, Rep. Waxman makes public pronouncements to the effect that the
“Bush administration” has been soft on its favored contractor. Rep. Waxman has repeatedly
referred to Halliburton’s no-bid contract, referring to LOGCAP. An official of competing
contractor Raytheon has publicly pointed out that the contract was “fiercely competed.” 62 KBR
and its employees have been involved in some derelictions under LOGCAP and other contracts,
but given the immense size of the efforts and conditions involved, this is hardly surprising.
Inaccurate and inappropriate political commentary contributes to a faulty public perception of
contingency contracting and affects some of the other issues impacting such contracting.
Absent a sudden epidemic of honesty among some American politicians, there is little that can
be done about this, but it does merit a comment as an unresolved issue.
Flexible contracting vehicles exist to support contingency contracting. Examples of this
were documented in the author’s previous paper. 63 Two commentators recently agreed,
however, that inflexible contracting vehicles and failure to use flexibilities that exist were among
the issues common to both Iraq battlefield support and contracting efforts in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. One of the commentators stated this was the number one issue in Iraq
battlefield contracting. 64
The failure to use existing flexibilities may flow from another issue: “Lack of trained
acquisition personnel and lack of training for contingency contracting.” 65 It may also be impacted
by: “Unreasonable post-award and in some cases post-performance audit; auditing
contingency/emergency contracting using non contingency/emergency standards.” 66 Excessive
contract oversight and oversight conducted using standards inappropriate for the conditions has
been documented both in the author’s current and previous research. It is the most likely cause
of the “fear to make a decision” syndrome among contracting officers which has likewise been
noted. The fielding of large numbers of on-site contract oversight personnel rather than
warranted contracting officers seems a serious misallocation of resources.
Much publicized “abuses” and allegations of “fraud” whether by politicians or in the
popular press lead “to calls for more oversight and audit scrutiny.” 67 “Oversight means second
guessing”; there is a “need to focus on the front end not the backend,” and we need to get it
right next time. “Cooperation, if not partnership, is needed to get the job done.” 68
62 Michael Mutek, remarks at West Conference (note 33).
63 Dunn (note 1) op. cit., 52-55.
64 Nibley & Mutek. Emergency contracting at home and in battle. Conference Briefs, 14, from West
Conference (note 32). Michael Mutek identified lack of contracting flexibility as the prime issue in his
remarks.
65 Conference Briefs, ibid. Stuart Nibley identified this as his prime issue.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid.
68 Remarks by Nibley, S. & Mutek, M. West Conference (note 32).
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