Commission on Wartime Contracting

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Hearing February 28, 2011

Ensuring contractor accountability: Past performance and suspensions and debarments

On February 28, 2011, the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (Commission) held a hearing to examine how the past performance information system and the suspension & debarment process can be used to achieve better contractor performance and accountability in contingencies.

Two panels of witnesses were probed by the commissioners regarding the effectiveness of government’s tools to hold contractors accountable for their work. The Commission estimates that the United States has wasted tens of billions of the nearly $200 billion that has been spent on contracts and grants since 2002 to support military, reconstruction, and other U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The witnesses discussed methods to strengthen contractor performance standards and accountability, including the use of federal systems to capture and use data on contractors’ performance, and on use of procedures to suspend or debar contractors from receiving new government contracts.

Witnesses on the first panel were: Rear Admiral Robert J. Gilbeau, U.S. Navy, Commander, Defense Contract Management Agency, International; Michael Carroll, Deputy Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development; Captain Timothy Harrington, U.S. Navy, Commanding Officer, Naval Sea Logistics Center; Scott Amey, General Counsel, Project on Government Oversight, a non-profit organization.

Testifying on the second panel were: Dan Gordon, Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy; Richard T. Ginman, Deputy Director, Contingency Contracting and Acquisition Policy, Defense Procurement Acquisition Policy, Department of Defense; Corey Rindner, Procurement Executive, Department of State; Maureen Shauket, Chief Acquisition Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development; Dan Blalock, U.S. Navy Counsel, and Chair, Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee; Uldric L. Fiore, Director, Office of The Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army.

The hearing began at 9:30 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Commission Co-Chair Christopher Shays presided.


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Transcript: Feb 28, 2011 hearing transcript

Opening Statements
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