The Senate Armed Services Committee just ended their hearing looking at the challenges facing the Department of Defense (DoD), and POGO wants to applaud the Senators for highlighting several issues near and dear to our hearts. Many highlighted the need for better management of contractors, and particularly the need to prevent contractors from performing inherently governmental functions. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) emphasized the need for competitive contracting, specifically for the Air Force tanker, and Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) not only brought up the desperate need for reform at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), but again emphasized the need to hold those who try to intimidate whistleblowers accountable.
We were also excited to see Defense Secretary Robert Gates emphasize the need for improved business management and procurement at DoD and the importance of matching procurement to realistic strategic needs. But we would like to respectfully disagree with his suggestion that overly strict interpretations of the revolving door problem prevent people with the kind of industry management experience necessary to improve acquisitions from being able to return or enter public service. While he did not mention "uniquely qualified" Deputy Defense Secretary nominee William J. Lynn III by name (or if he did, I missed it), we just want to repeat again that 1) lobbyists are not managers, and 2) good business managers don't have to come from the industry that they are going to oversee. Moreover, some have raised questions about whether Lynn was even a good manager.
Before asking any questions at today's hearing, Senator McCaskill told Secretary Gates that she wants to be his partner in the "knife fight" of procurement reform. POGO would also like to offer our help, which is why we think it's important to stop the revolving door between industry and government--and to support every measure that takes a step in that direction.
If you're looking for further discussion of this issue, the House Armed Services Committee is also holding a hearing. And Defense Tech will be interviewing POGO friend Winslow Wheeler at 3:00 today to get his reactions to the hearing.
-- Mandy Smithberger
The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (DoD IG) Hot Line is complicit as to apparent de facto co-operation by key parts of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) management infrastructure with the Defense Contractors and/or their Consultants for the purposes of setting up the DCAA audits/auditors to fail by minimizing the DCAA auditor's knowledge of the contractor’s operations and systems by destroying the permanent files, not making field visits to the contractor's facility (also known as audits by e-mail), fostering DCAA staff turnovers, etc.; fending off audit findings by putting the audits on the back-burner then closing out the audits, because of elapsed days; blocking and/or compromising referrals of suspected irregular conduct (Form 2000); etc.
It was disclosed to Senator Claire McCaskill at the September 10, 2008 Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Hearing that instead of forwarding the senior DCAA auditor’s Hot Line complaint to the cognizant (California) DoD IG Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) office; the DoD IG Hot Line referred the complaint to DCAA Headquarters for action. It was only the fact that the senior DCAA auditor had also contacted a Special Agent at the local DCIS field office that the DCAA auditor learned what the DoD Hot Line had done to her (exposed her to retaliation by DCAA officials). Thus, right from the start her identity was not protected.
Instead of the DoD IG Hot Line having the major responsibility for protecting the Federal employee whistle blowers, who use its Hot Line, it is the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that has the authority and responsibility to investigate complaints of reprisal against Federal appropriated fund civilian employees. Well, we all know by now that the OSC, and the term "leaving the whistle blower hanging out to dry" are synonymous.
In the case of the DCAA protection of the whistle blower must involve a study of all the interactions of the chains of command of all the Federal oversight; and holding each one fully accountable. As we see in this case, and over and over again; stonewalling and the passage of time do not favor the unprotected whistle blowers.
Posted by: anonymous | Jan 29, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Yawn. It is so boring to watch POGO continue to operate as a defense contractor shill. Why don't you ask the DoD to change the award fee pool it pays in contracts from 10% across the board to something like 5% for development, 12% for production, and a bonus on delivery of a good, working product? Oh yeah, the contractors wouldn't like that, would they? They love the free money they make dragging out the development phase. I think I'll name my next dog POGO.
Posted by: Dfens | Jan 29, 2009 at 08:27 AM