United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-09-29 monographic deposited born digital 41 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-00-225 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225 P0b002ee1803a5057 f:ns00225 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225 NSIAD-00-225 Contract costs Contract oversight Department of Defense contractors Contract performance Logistics Military cost control Armed forces abroad Internal controls Defense contingency planning Bosnia Kosovo Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program Correspondence NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Army's efforts to control the costs of its Balkans Support Contract, focusing on whether: (1) the Army is taking effective actions to contain costs; and (2) improvements are needed in how the Army and other Department of Defense (DOD) agencies involved in Balkan operations manage activities under the primary Balkan contract.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) both the Army and its contractor, Brown and Root Services, have taken various actions to control the cost of services provided under the Balkans Support Contract; (2) these actions include a contract provision requiring the contractor to regularly identify cost savings, recycling materials from elsewhere in the Balkans and Europe, and using soldiers to perform tasks such as building construction whenever possible; (3) nevertheless, the Army should have done more to control costs; (4) one step it should have taken was to give more consideration to costs in making decisions on the extent of services to be provided by the contractor; (5) another step the Army should have taken was to place greater emphasis on the level and efficiency with which recurring services were being provided; (6) in July 2000, the Army directed that a quarterly review be conducted to assess whether all the services it receives under the contract are still needed; (7) however, it has not called for the review to include an examination of the level of these services and the efficiency with which they are being provided; (8) the Army has also directed that standards be developed for each service provided at its camps, but as of July 2000 had not set a date for the standards' completion; (9) each standard is to describe the service to be performed, the necessary facilities and personnel, when and how the services are to be performed, and the level at which they are to be performed; (10) the Army plans to achieve efficiencies in the level of services and the way in which they are provided by mandating that officials in Kosovo and Macedonia identify $40 million in cost savings for fiscal year 2001; (11) the Army expects costs to be reduced by this amount by reducing the number of contractor personnel providing services, scaling back service levels, and reducing on-hand inventories; (12) the Army should improve its management of the Balkans Support Contract; (13) officials at facilities in the Balkans have not been as specific as they should have been about what they expect from the contractor; (14) they frequently have simply accepted the level of services the contractor provided without questioning whether they could be provided more efficiently or less frequently and at lower cost; (15 ) GAO found a widespread view among Army and other DOD agencies' officials in the Balkans that they had little control over the contractor's actions once it was authorized to perform tasks; and (16) contract administrators are deployed for a limited time which hinders effective contract oversight. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225.pdf GAO/NSIAD-00-225 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-225 Correspondence GAO/NSIAD-00-225; Contingency Operations: Army Should Do More to Control; Contract costs Contract oversight Department of Defense contractors Contract performance Logistics Military cost control Armed forces abroad Internal controls Defense contingency planning Bosnia Kosovo Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program