Three steps to improve Department of Defense contingency contracting

Contracting Policies

Established Required Contracting Policies

Organization

Establish Required Contracting Policies

Following is a white paper report regarding three specific steps in the contingency contracting process. This report will use the DoD accepted definition of "direct contracting support to tactical and operational forces involved in the full spectrum of armed conflict and military operations other than war, both domestic and overseas" (DoD, 2010).

Developing the Contingency Contracting Process

Contingency contracting is a complicated process that is "characterized an extremely high tempo, confusion and controlled chaos" (DoD, 2010). Since the initial phase of most contingency operations are expected to involve some amount of chaos initially, a strong development plan is a necessity.

Developing contingency contracting plans for "major regional conflicts; lesser regional conflicts; military operations other than war; domestic disaster/emergency relief; and, routine military exercises" (DoD, 2010) is complicated and requires the input of many governmental offices. The first stage would be to consult the Joint Contingency Contracting Handbook (Long 2010) which was established to help the planning committee understand what the capabilities of the military is according to branch. Conflicts and disaster relief also always has executive and congressional oversight. Understanding the role that these governmental agencies will play in the plan is probably the most important aspect o the plan, due to the financial and regulatory role that they will occupy.

Due to the recent rebuilding efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there have been lessons learned that are important in the contingency contracting process. Currently, there is no centralized office which can streamline the development process based on the review of previous contracting operations. Claire McCaskill (D, MO) proposed that there be a permanent inspector general office within the DoD that has oversight control (Therkildsen, 2010). This review of the process could be valuable in assisting with future processes.

Managing the Contingency Contracting Process

Development of the required contingency contracting processes is not the end of the plan (Long, 2010). Managing the different contractors is the most difficult issue in contract completion (GAO, 2010). The GAO (2010) realizes that "relying on contractors to perform [critical] functions can provide benefits, but also introduces potential risks, such as conflicts of interest, that should be considered and managed." Due o the importance of this stage of the plan, it has been necessary to set up contingencies for the management of potential contractors.

The GAO found that many governmental agencies were using multiple contractors to perform jobs that the agencies were understaffed to perform. The issue is that the agencies often did not know the extent of the contracting firms involvement. The report said that "to mitigate risks associated with using contractors, agencies have to understand when, where, and how contractors should be used" (GAO, 2010). Unfortunately this was not the case.

Management of the contractors used by a particular agency has to fall under the authority of a particular individual or group. Without centralized governance for the projects that a particular agency has contracted, the contractors may overstep the guidelines of the contingency contracting plan. One way that this aspect of risk could be managed is with a consistent governmental policy (GAO, 2010). Unfortunately one is not now in place.

Management also depends on the type of contracting that is required. Most contingency contracts are drawn up with regard to activities such as reconstruction and disaster relief. However, there are times when contractors are required in combat zones to support troops. The management of these activities requires different skills and necessitates a joint management platform amongst the agencies involved. Therefore, the development of a consistent interagency plan and training can be seen.