US wasted USD 60 billion in Afghanistan, Iraq: Report

WASHINGTON: The US lost at least USD 31 billion, and possibly as much as USD 60 billion to contract waste and fraud during contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a top independent commission has said.

The Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), an independent, bipartisan legislative commission established to study wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan in its final report, estimated that at the mid-range, waste and fraud during contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan averaged about USD 12 million every day for the past 10 years.

"At least USD 31 billion, and possibly as much as USD 60 billion, has been lost to contract waste and fraud in America's contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan," the CWC told the US Congress in its 240-page report, 'Transforming Wartime Contracting: Controlling Costs, Reducing Risks'.

Much more will turn into waste as attention to continuing operations wanes, as US support for projects and programes in Iraq and Afghanistan declines, and as those efforts are revealed as unsustainable, it said.

Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan said the Department of Defense has already implemented a number of steps to improve contingency contracting based on its own analysis, as well as recommendations from the independent reviews of the Government Accountability Office and the Inspector General and the Commission's previous publications and interim reports.

He said the Pentagon shares the Commission's commitment to improving wartime contracting.

"In particular we commend the Commission for shining a spotlight on the risks of over reliance on contractors, on the need to strengthen the contracting function at the agencies, on the value of increasing competition in contracting and on the importance of holding contractors accountable for their performance," Lapan said.