War for Profit : Army Contracting vs. Supporting the Troops.
Title:
War for Profit : Army Contracting vs. Supporting the Troops.
Author:
Smith, Charles M.
ISBN:
9780875869292
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (300 pages)
Contents:
Preface -- Do We Really Support the Troops? -- What Is At Risk? -- Questions of Loyalty and Responsibility -- Background -- My Relationship to the Army -- Service Contracts -- A Note on Contractual Interpretation -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1. Overrun by the Taliban, then by KBR -- Setting the Stage -- Field Support -- A Fateful Suggestion -- September 11 Changes Everything -- Into Kuwait and Iraq -- Forward to Baghdad -- The Green Zone -- Camps Slayer and Cropper -- Camp Anaconda -- Chapter 2. "Tooth to Tail" -- Logistics -- US Logistics after Vietnam -- LOGCAP is Born -- Reality Intervenes: LOGCAP Immediately Diverges from Original Intent -- LOGCAP II: Down a Slippery Slope -- Contractor vs. Army Cost Analysis -- LOGCAP II and the Move to AMC -- LOGCAP III: Sliding Away -- Chapter 3. LOGCAP III -- Government Contracts -- Contract Types -- Firm Fixed-Price Contracts (FFP) -- Cost Reimbursement Contracts -- Cost-Plus-A-Percentage-Of-Cost Contracts -- Cost-Plus-Award-Fee Contracts (CPAF) -- Cost-Plus-Award-Fee Contracts under LOGCAP -- The LOGCAP Award Fee Plan -- Organizational Structure for Award Fee Administration -- LOGCAP III and Support to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom -- Chapter 4. Army Contracts and Reversed Incentives -- Chapter 5. Negotiation, Settlement and Fee -- Dining Facility Overcharges -- Award Fee Boards -- Army Award Fee Board Testimony -- Impact of Army Award Fee Management -- Use of Cost Type Contracts -- Chapter 6. Dining Facilities, Fraud and Bribes -- Poor Quality Meals -- Fraud -- Bribes -- Bribery as a Prevalent Problem -- False Claims -- Chapter 7. Water Problems -- Army Response -- Chapter 8. Electrical Work -- Washington International/Black and Veatch -- KBR-MERO -- Level A-B-C-Maintenance -- Actions of the Contracting Officer Forward -- Results -- Other Electrocutions in Iraq.
Investigations -- Investigations Completed in the Everett Case -- The Incident -- Observations -- Equipment -- Site Visit -- Government Contractor Involvement -- Conclusions -- Staff Sergeant Christopher Everett -- More Moral Hazard -- Chapter 9. Transportation -- Empty Trucks on the Road -- The April 9 Incident -- Reefers -- Other Transportation Contractors -- Tactical Vehicle Maintenance -- Chapter 10. The Struggle for Congressional Oversight -- Henry Waxman and the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations -- Senator Byron Dorgan and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee -- Carl Levin and the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) -- REP Andrews and the House Armed Services Committee -- Senator Claire McCaskill and the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight (SOCO) -- The Congressional Research Service (CRS) -- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) -- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) -- Requesting an Investigation -- The Commission on Wartime Contracting -- What Has the Commission Actually Done? -- Missed Opportunities in a Target Rich Environment -- (1) FAR 52.216-26, Payments of Allowable Costs before Definitization -- (2) Subcontracting by KBR under LOGCAP -- (3) Force Protection -- (4) Award Fee -- Summing up the Commission on Wartime Contracting -- Conclusions -- Chapter 11. The Use of Contractors for Combat Service Support -- Outsourcing -- Risk Analysis -- Risks of Using Contractors -- Advantages of Using Civilian Contractors -- Cost Analysis -- Adjustments to the CBO Study -- Cost/Benefit Analysis -- Army officers examine the risks of LOGCAP -- Conclusion -- Chapter 12. Use of Contractors to Oversee Other Contractors -- The Problem of Contracting Out Oversight of Contractors -- What Are Inherently Governmental Functions? -- A Case Study - Reviewing the LOGCAP Support Contract -- Some Additional Background Information.
What Went Wrong this Time? -- This Problem Is Not Restricted to DoD Contracting -- Conclusion -- Chapter 13. Lessons Learned -- LOGCAP IV -- Improved Requirements Control -- Additional Contract Oversight Resources -- Improved Electrical Safety -- We Can Do Better -- Recommendations -- The Need for a Federal Contract Audit Agency -- Curing the Military/Corporate Complex -- Conclusion -- Acronym Definitions -- Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
"WASHINGTON - The Army official who managed the Pentagon's largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than 1 billion in questionable charges to KBR..." (James Risen, New York Times, June 17, 2008). This book by that very Army official provides an eye-opening firsthand account of how the US Government hands over your tax dollars to support contractors like KBR and Halliburton, rather than supporting the troops. This authoritative and well-documented record of the LOGCAP contract in Iraq and Afghanistan is at the same time a study of US participation in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the workings of government agencies and Congress. The first chapter sets the scene, briefly narrating the author's work on behalf of US military efforts, especially in Iraq. Subsequent chapters illustrate specific issues in contractor relations that resulted in unsafe conditions for the troops and blew millions of taxpayer dollars. Loyal and hard-working government officials and employees who tried to keep things on track were turned away and those who sought to rein in the free-for-all were sacked. The author reveals problems with KBR's provision of transportation, electricity, food and water. Other chapters are more analytic and evaluate Army logistics, Congressional oversight and the question of whether letting contracts for this kind of support is appropriate at all--the kind of problems that concern military policy leaders, defense analysts, public policy analysts and scholars in these areas, as well as the citizens in whose name this is all done.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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