Contract Management: Contracting for Iraq Reconstruction and for Global Logistics Support

The General Accounting Office (GAO) discussed some of the work the it is undertaking to address various operations and rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Specifically, GAO has a body of ongoing work looking at a range of issues involving Iraq, including Iraq's transitional administrative law, efforts to restore essential services to the Iraqi people, and the effectiveness of logistics activities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, among others. Importantly, given the challenging security environment in Iraq and the various other accountability organizations involved in the oversight process, it is attempting to coordinate its engagement planning and execution with other organizations as appropriate. In this testimony it discussed (1) its report (GAO-04-605) that was released yesterday on the contract award procedures for contracts awarded in fiscal year 2003 to help rebuild Iraq and (2) its preliminary findings on the military's use of global logistics support contracts. These support contracts have emerged as important tools in providing deployed military services with a wide range of logistics services.