GAO calls for DoD to examine contractor use

[unhappycamper]

GAO calls for DoD to examine contractor use
By Elise Castelli - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 12, 2009 5:18:03 EST

The Defense Department has failed to examine its use of contractors, military members and civilian employees to ensure it isn’t outsourcing inherently governmental work, the head of the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers Wednesday.

Such a study has been a standing recommendation of GAO since 2006, but has never been carried out, Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said.

Defense spending on services contractors — such as acquisition support contractors, intelligence analysts, interpreters and security guards — has doubled over the last six years as the department struggles to meet growing demands with insufficient staff.

But those contracting decisions, rather than being strategically planned, “resulted from thousands of individual decisions to use contractors to provide specific capabilities,” Dodaro told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he would consider setting a mandatory deadline for the department to comply with the recommendation, with the penalty of withheld funding if it fails.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/military_dod_contractors_021109w/%2e