Assignment: Research two articles on the web that pertains to the Joint Theater Support Contracting Command (JTSCC). What are the issues or problems within the framework or process of operating the JTSCC? Give real world examples.
The world is rife with conflict and disagreements. These disagreements, depending on their severity can result in war and many civilian deaths. Retaliatory efforts on the part of other countries can further exacerbate conflict causing still further damage to innocent civilians. These battles, particularly when religion is the basis, can last for many years and cause irreputable damage to communities and civilizations. From an economic perspective, people within the communities no longer have wealth or income by which to support their families. Companies are hesitant to locate within the area due primary to war and other forms of terrorism. Likewise, it is difficult to reestablish government as control and power systems are week. As a result, international aid is often needed to help support communities and countries that have been ravaged by war, struggle, and economic collapse. Recent the joint theater support contracting command has been used to help facilitate this process of economic oversight during periods of unrest. Although well intentioned this operation also has its issues that can ultimately harm. An example of the this occurred in 2001. Here, the United States had appropriated more than $85.5 billion to the Departments of Defense (DOD) and State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other U.S. agencies for reconstruction in Afghanistan. Here, the Joint Theater Support Contracting Command was tasked with using funds for the establishment of security and development...
Due to the foreign
nature of business activities and operations it is difficult to accurate police contractor data. In the case of Afghanistan, it was difficult for the joint theater support contracting command to properly oversee operation of contractors and their pricing. In the case of pricing, it is difficult to properly gauge the correct price of contracts in a foreign area. For one, these areas are difficult to ascertain and oversee as it relates to costs. This causes a litany of issues related to waste,
fraud and
abuse with the entire system. Foreign contracts, has incentive to raise pricing for contractors knowing funds will be backed by the United States government. The joint theater support contracting command also doesnt know the best suppliers and contractors in the area due to the foreign nature of Afghanistan. As a result, contracts during this period were highly overstated and thus heavily influenced with fraud. Many of the contracts were inflated and thus fraudulent in nature. A real-world example occurred in 2001, with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Here, the issues related to proper oversight and contract data began to emerge. Under the investigation, SIGAR found that JTSCC officials used inaccurate and incomplete data entry methods as it related to contractors in Afghanistan. This ultimately resulted in the C-JTSCC overstating its fiscal year 2009 contract obligations by about $2.6 billion (Otto, 2011). This billion-dollar oversight was the result of litany and issued related to the manner in which the joint theater support contracting command oversaw their contracting process. These issues were lack of proper data entry, inflated contract values on the part of Afghan contractors, lack of properly oversight of costs, and lack of technology
integrity. For example, in the SIGAR report, the C-JTSCC reported more than $690 million in fiscal year 2009 contract obligations to Kabuljan Construction Company, when the actual value was $18 million. This contract overstatement was grossly inaccurate and much like many of the other contracts, resulted in large overstatement of obligations. In addition, according to SIGAR report, the C-JTSCCs data included contracts that were made…
