What We Did:
The objective of this followup evaluation was to determine whether the DoD implemented corrective actions for report recommendations in DODIG-2019-088, “Evaluation of DoD Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Kuwait,” June 11, 2019 (the 2019 report).
What We Found:
The U.S. Army Contracting Command-Rock Island (ACC RI), the U.S. Air Forces Central (USAFCENT), and the Executive Director of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) implemented actions that met the intent of 14 of the 22 recommendations from our 2019 report.
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One recommendation for AAFES to update its policy to allow for enhanced TIP monitoring was closed prior to publishing the 2019 report. The DoD OIG followup review team further determined that one of the eight unresolved recommendations—for AAFES to develop a process or resource for definitively determining Kuwaiti labor law requirements that allow for tailored TIP monitoring—was clarified and resolved by the DoD General Counsel after the 2019 report was published but prior to this report. That recommendation is now closed. However, 8 of the 22 recommendations from our 2019 report have not been fully implemented.
The followup review team found the following:
• DoD Instruction 2200.01 and Central Command Regulation 570-4 were revised to assign roles and responsibilities to commands regarding CTIP.
• USCENTCOM reports known CTIP cases to the CTIP Program Management Office (PMO).
• USCENTCOM does not need to formally designate a command headquarters in Kuwait to be responsible for CTIP compliance.
• ACC-RI and USAFCENT generally improved their CTIP program efforts by updating policy and communicating CTIP program efforts to their contracting community, specifically through training. However, ACC RI and USAFCENT contracting officers did not ensure that:
o the FAR CTIP clause and Alternate I FAR CTIP clause, or other required CTIP information in DoD contracts, was included and updated;
o every service contract that had a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) described how Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) would monitor the contractor’s compliance with the FAR CTIP clauses; and
o contractor past performance data related to TIP was appropriately entered into the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).
• The Air Force also did not include CTIP-related guidance in policies intended to support implementing and developing targeted TIP monitoring. Also, the Air Force did not show how its CTIP program was tailored to the Kuwait operational environment.
• The DoD General Counsel opined that the appropriate process for providing legal guidance for contractor compliance with relevant Kuwaiti labor laws is already in place. However, the followup team’s analysis of 46 contracts found that none of the contracts addressed the specifics of Kuwaiti labor law, especially with regard to the Alternate I CTIP FAR clause for contracts performed outside of the United States.
What We Recommend:
Prior to starting this followup evaluation, the DoD OIG closed 3 of the 22 recommendations from our 2019 report. However, in this followup evaluation, we determined that those 3 recommendations should not have been closed. Specifically, recommendations from the original report to USAFCENT related to completing the Alternate I CTIP FAR clause, including CTIP-related information and monitoring guidance in QASPs and entering contractor past performance information into the CPARS, are being reopened. A total of 8 recommendations from the original evaluation are considered open. We also made recommendations that the Commander of Army Contracting Command-Rock Island and the Commander of U.S. Air Forces Central provide verification that the contracts we reviewed during this followup evaluation, listed in Appendixes F and G of this report, contain updated CTIP clauses, with a specific emphasis on the Alternate I CTIP clause, and inclusion of specific Kuwaiti labor law requirements to allow for tailored TIP monitoring.