Commission on Wartime Contracting

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Congressional Hearings

Congressional hearing September 21, 2011

Transforming Wartime Contracting

On September 21, 2011, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held the hearing, "Transforming Wartime Contracting." Testifying for the Commission were Commissioners Christopher Shays, Katherine Schinasi, Clark Ervin, Charles Tiefer, and Robert Henke.

Senators Jim Webb and Claire McCaskill; Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary for management at the Department of State; and Richard Ginman, the director for defense procurement and acquisition policy at the Department of Defense; also testified.


Documents

Commissioners Ervin, Henke, Schinasi, Shays, Tiefer, and Zakheim

Senators Jim Webb and Claire McCaskill

Congressional hearing September 23, 2010

Transition in Iraq: is the State Department prepared to take the lead?

On March 2, 2011, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing, "Transition in Iraq: is the State Department prepared to take the lead?"

Co-Chairman Michael Thibault and Commissioner Grant Green testified on behalf of the Commission. Stuart W. Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, also testified.


Documents
Transcript
Statements of Commissioners Grant S. Green and Michael Thibault
Statement of Stuart Bowen

Website: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing page

Video
Part 1: YouTube video of the hearing
Part 2: YouTube video of the hearing
Part 3: YouTube video of the hearing
Part 4: YouTube video of the hearing
Part 5: YouTube video of the hearing

Congressional hearing March 2, 2011

Commissioners testify on "Leaving Iraq" to House Committee

On March 2, 2011, the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing, "U.S. Military Leaving Iraq: Is the State Department Ready?"

Co-Chairman Michael Thibault and Commissioner Grant Green testified on behalf of the Commission. Their testimony included discussion of the Commission's Special Report 4, "Iraq-a forgotten mission?"

Other witnesses were:

  • Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, Department of State
  • Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs
  • Frank Kendall, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
  • Stuart Bowen, Jr., Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

Document: Testimony of Commissioners Grant S. Green and Michael Thibault

Website: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing page

Video: C-SPAN video of the hearing

Congressional hearing June 10, 2009

Commissioners testify to House Committee on Interim Report

On June 10, 2009, the co-chairs of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan testified before a U.S. House panel on concerns raised during their initial investigations of the nation’s heavy reliance on contractors.

Commission Co-Chairs Michael J. Thibault and Christopher H. Shays appeared before the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, chaired by Rep. John F. Tierney (D-MA); ranking member is Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

The hearing, “Commission on Wartime Contracting: Interim Findings and Path Forward,” centered on the Commission’s interim report to Congress that was formally filed and publicly released on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.

The federal law that created the Commission in 2008 required an interim report this year and a final report in 2010. The interim report, more than 100 pages long, describes the Commission’s work in areas of contractor management and accountability, logistics, reconstruction, security, and policy and process. It also highlights several “issues of immediate concern” for Congress and the executive branch that need attention as operations increasingly shift from Iraq to the Afghan theater.

More than 240,000 contractor employees, about 80 percent of them foreign nationals, are working in Iraq and Afghanistan to support operations and projects of the U.S. military, the Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Contractor employees outnumber U.S. troops in the region. While contractors provide vital services, the Commission believes their use has also entailed billions of dollars lost to waste, fraud, and abuse due to inadequate planning, poor contract drafting, limited competition, understaffed oversight functions, and other problems. The Commission co-chairs discussed the preliminary observations in the interim report, highlighted the importance of the issues of immediate concern, and described the broad range of issues on the agenda for investigation and analysis.

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