Civilian Contractors

Paper Summary:

This paper defines the roles of the Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) which hires private civilian contractors to provide supplies and services to American soldiers. It also explores the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which asseses the federal programs to see if money is being spent in a wise fashion. The paper, through statistics and research, tries to determine whether the American taxpayers are getting their money's worth from the contractors who are supplying and servicing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From the Paper:

"Going way back to 1997 and the U.S. military involvement in Bosnia, the same problem (lack of accountability and oversight) was apparent, according to the GAO "Report Abstract" issued on February 11, 1997. "The Army lacks basic financial systems to track how contractor funds are being spent and contractor monitoring systems to evaluate contractor performance," the report states. Civilian contractors were used "extensively in the Korean and Vietnam Wars... [and] in the case of Bosnia, the Army's latest estimate for contractor support has risen to $461.5 million - about $111 million more than the Army's original estimate." The GAO also criticizes the "unnecessary overhead costs and duplication resulting from the Navy and the Air Force introducing similar support contract programs.""

Sample of Sources Used:

• CBS News. 2004. Halliburton May Lose Iraq Contract. Retrieved August 1, 2006, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/25/national/printables651124.shtml.
• GAO. 2006. Contract management: DOD Vulnerabilities to Contracting Fraud, Waste and Abuse. Retrieved August 2, 2006, from http://www.gao.gov.
• GAO. 2003. Contractors Provide Vital Services to Deployed Forces but Are Not Adequately Addressed in DOD Plans. Retrieved August 2, 2006, from http://www.gao.gov/cgl-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-695.
• GAO. 2004. DOD's Extensive Use of Logistics Support Contracts Requires Strengthened Oversight. (GAO-04-854). Retrieved August 1, 2006, fromhttp://www.gao.gov/cgl-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-854.
• GAO. 2005. High-Level DOD Coordination is Needed to Further Improve the Management ofThe Army's LOGCAP Contract. Retrieved August 1, 2006, from http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-328.

More papers on Civilian Contractors:

• Term Paper # 92472 : "Civilian Contractors in War"
• Persuasive Essay # 113144 : "The Private Contractor"
• Term Paper # 107447 : "Civilians in Military Operations"

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