Proposal to Reform War Contracting Will Save Taxpayers Billions

Statement of Scott Amey, General Counsel, Project On Government Oversight:

Today, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Jim Webb (D-VA) announced the “Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act of 2012,” a bill that will enhance accountability and transparency in wartime contracts.

No matter the policy or ideological reasons for hiring wartime contractors, this bill provides an improved set of checks and balances that will save taxpayers billions. The estimated waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, up to $60 billion, requires a legislative fix to ensure that waste and war profiteering are radically reduced.

The legislation includes provisions to automatically suspend certain charged or indicted contractors, limit the time period of wartime contracts, ensure the use of contractors in security roles is appropriate and necessary, and require additional reporting about contract awards, contractor personnel, contract costs, performance data, and suspension and debarment actions.

This legislation is the direct result of the comprehensive study by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, an independent, bipartisan legislative commission established to study contingency contracting, that produced its final report in August 2011.

Editors note: to learn more about this issue see POGO's blogpost, McCaskill, Webb Introduce Wartime Contracting Legislation that Could Save Taxpayers Billions.