Military Operations: High-Level DOD Action Needed to Address Long-Standing Problems with Management and Oversight of Contractors Supporting Deployed Forces

Abstract : Prior U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have identified problems with the Department of Defense's (DoD) management and oversight of contractors supporting deployed forces. GAO issued its first comprehensive report examining these problems in June 2003. Because of the broad congressional interest in U.S. military operations in Iraq and DoD's increasing use of contractors to support U.S. forces in Iraq, GAO initiated this follow-on review under the Comptroller General's statutory authority. Specifically, GAO's objective was to determine the extent to which DoD has improved its management and oversight of contractors supporting deployed forces since its 2003 report. GAO reviewed DoD policies and interviewed military and contractor officials both at deployed locations and in the United States. GAO is recommending that the Secretary of Defense appoint a focal point within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, at a sufficiently senior level and with the appropriate resources, dedicated to leading DoD efforts to improve the management and oversight of contractors supporting deployed forces. DoD agreed with GAO's recommendation.