Fraud Waste and Abuse and Contingency Contracts

<p>The thesis addresses the fraud waste and abuse (FWA) issues associated with contingency contracts that DoD has faced for the last nine years. The topic was chosen because of the potential impact it could have on the national debt military pay freezes and retirement for military service members. My primary research question is what programs or processes has DoD initiated to mitigate FWA within government contracting and have any initiatives been effective? After nine years of conflict the nation now faces its biggest economic crisis in U.S. history with a national deficit at $1.64 trillion. By 2009 Congress has appropriated nearly $888 billion to pay for U.S operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon estimated that $10 billion was misspent or lost in related contracts valued at $57 billion. The thesis cites several federal agencies who identified systemic contributing factors to FWA in contracting. These areas include: (1) sustained leadership (2) capable acquisition force (3) adequate pricing (4) appropriate contracting approaches and techniques and (5) sufficient contract surveillance. The study further identifies DoD's 2008-2010 initiatives to combat the systemic issues including restructuring the Army Material Command to establish a subordinate Army Contracting Command. In conclusion the findings in this report indicate that DoD has implemented effective changes across the Army's DOTMLP domains in order to combat deter and reduce FWA. However FWA continues to stain military contracts.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>