With billions of dollars in CARES Act funding yet to be spent and several billion more potentially in the appropriations pipeline, it’s far too early to tell how effectively the Defense Department is spending its share of the disaster funding.
But according to the Pentagon’s inspector general, DoD — and its auditors — have more than enough experience with prior emergencies to know what to do, and what not to do, to make sure money is spent well even when contracts have to be executed quickly.
In a new special report, drawing on 36 earlier audits that dealt with contracting during previous emergencies, the OIG tries to outline what it considers best practices for contracting under time pressure.
“It is a very fast paced, ever changing environment right now with this pandemic. But what contracting officers are experiencing right now is similar to pressures that were present during past disaster response and relief efforts. So our intent here was to highlight best practices and lessons learned that really span a significant portion of time,” Theresa Hull, the assistant inspector general for audit acquisition, contracting, and sustainment said in an interview for Federal News Network’s On DoD. “Our reports go back to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but also include the more recent hurricanes, Florence and Irma, and we highlighted four areas that the contracting community should be aware of: Communication and coordination; documentation, consistency in the contracting process, and staffing and training.”
Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/on-dod/2020/06/pentagon-ig-offers-advice-for-effective-contracting-during-pandemic/
The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/
But the bill didn’t include any new funding to make those payments, and DoD officials are telling Congress they need billions of additional dollars to make contractors whole.
The measure was attached to the annual defense authorization bill approved by the House Armed Services Committee, and would prevent Defense from spending more on service contracts than it did in fiscal 2010. Such a cap was in place from fiscal years 2012 through 2015 but lawmakers removed it the last two years.
But the assurances were insufficient for at least two senior members of Congress, who say the Defense Department needs to suspend its transfers of “controlled” military equipment until DLA has completely solved the internal control problems GAO identified in a recently-disclosed sting operation.
