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Waste attributed to Iraq war 'can never be known,' inspector general says
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
July 18th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
July 18th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction for
the past eight years, in an interview with the Center for Public
Integrity released a new summary of disheartening discoveries his office
made since starting in 2004. Bowen says the billions lost to fraud and
waste "can never be known," largely because of poor record-keeping by
the U.S. agencies involved.
Auditors repeatedly found that the State Department and Defense Department failed to review invoices from government contractors, often approving billions of dollars in services without checking if costs were cost effective.
"I think the consistent theme throughout our eight years of oversight work has been the inconsistent availability of records and information on contracts and costs," Bowen, a former Texas lawyer said.
Bowen said his efforts were hindered from the outset by the ineptitude of a clearinghouse created in Iraq for government departments to submit reconstruction bills and contracts for review and oversight.
Known as the Iraq Reconstruction Management System, the system was often disregarded, the result being that nearly a third of all the contracts could not be monitored adequately.
"Agencies often inconsistently used it -- such as USAID. Sometimes projects were put in there, sometimes they weren't," Bowen said.
Bowen's deputy inspector general, Glenn Furbish, said separately that the cost of many contracts was steadily increased due to frequent modifications. "Once U.S. agencies started down this road, they rarely stopped and said, 'This is getting out of hand,'" Furbish said.
Furbish also said that many agencies sometimes skipped appropriate review of their bills in an effort to spend money within a deadline, so they did not have to return it to the Treasury.
SIGIR investigated $635 million in spending, resulting in $176 million in "fines, forfeitures, and other monetary results."
The recent report demonstrated the continuous poor handling of government contracts. "In some instances, invoices were reviewed months after they were paid," according to the report. "Poor and/or delayed invoice reviews add risk that the government may overpay, or pay unallowable and unreasonable costs."
A lack of manpower dedicated to reviewing and overseeing government contracts is being blamed for the waste.
DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke confirmed that her company returned funds to the government but said it had not engaged in misconduct.
SIGIR's investigation also uncovered instances of bid-rigging and bribe-taking by State and Pentagon officials.
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