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.