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Report | Oct. 28, 2015

Army Needs to Improve Contract Oversight for the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program's Task Orders

DODIG-2016-004

Objective

Our objective was to determine whether the Army was providing sufficient contract oversight for Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) task orders issued to support Operation United Assistance. Specifically, we determined whether the Army appointed an adequate number of contracting officer’s representatives (CORs); CORs were appropriately trained and appointed; and CORs had sufficient quality assurance plans. We nonstatistically selected and reviewed quality assurance files for 6 of the 21 CORs appointed to oversee the contractor’s work. For more information on the sample selection, please see the Appendix.

Finding

Although the Army appointed an adequate number of CORs to oversee the task order, the Army did not ensure the CORs provided sufficient oversight for the $33.8 million LOGCAP task order issued to support Operation United Assistance. Specifically the:
  • 414th Contracting Support Brigade officials appointed four of the six CORs without the required training. This occurred because the 414th Contracting Support Brigade officials accepted the risk of not having sufficiently trained CORs.
  • Army Contracting Command–Rock Island procurement contracting officer (PCO) did not develop a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 46.4. This occurred because the PCO believed she was not responsible for developing the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan and instead provided four documents that did not meet the Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements for a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

As a result, the six CORs in our sample could not perform comprehensive reviews of contractor performance, increasing the risk that the Army paid for goods or services that did not meet contract performance standards. As of August 24, 2015, the Army had paid the contractor $27.6 million. We also identified that on at least 2 of the 11 sites, the contractor began work before CORs were on site to perform contractor surveillance. As a result, the contractor performed a total of 26 days of work without COR oversight.

Recommendations

We recommend the Commander, 414th Contracting Support Brigade, Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC) develop procedures that require experienced CORs be identified before contractor work begins; the CORs to be trained before deployment; and CORs to be provided adequate guidance to perform their duties. We further recommend the Commander develop procedures that outline alternate contractor surveillance methods if the CORs cannot perform contractor surveillance until they are on site.

We also recommend the Executive Director and PARC for the Army Contracting Command–Rock Island issue guidance that requires all PCOs to create a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan specific for each LOGCAP-issued task order.

Management Comments and Our Response

The Executive Deputy to the Commanding General, Army Materiel Command, responded for the Executive Director and PARC for Army Contracting Command–Rock Island and the Commander, 414th Contracting Support Brigade, PARC. The Executive Deputy addressed Recommendations 1.b and 2, and no further comments are required; however, we request the Commander, 414th Contracting Support Brigade, PARC, provide additional comments on Recommendations 1.a and 1.c.