A particularly ugly case of contractor fraud in the US occupation of Afghanistan has left two Afghan contractors facing charges of fraud and negligent homicide over their failure to complete jobs they were paid to do.
The situation is part of a $32 million US anti-IED scheme called the “culvert denial system.” In essence, the plan was to have contractors install grates over ditches running underneath roads to keep the Taliban from climbing under there and installing IEDs under the roads.
The government gave $1 million to the contractors in question to actually do the grate-installation, and never actually got around to it. Some were installed but incorrectly, while most were never installed at all.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a safety alert related to fraud in October, when the investigation began. The conclusion of that investigation confirms what was suspected, and the charges against the contractors suggest that if they had actually installed those grates, some fatal bombing may have been avoided.
The SIGAR is also focusing on the Pentagon’s contracting officers for not making sure the job was done, and urged the Pentagon to have better “quality control” oversight over contractors.
In the last days of Paul Bremmer in Iraq-Baghdad they discovered that 20million dollars in cash is missing.
"…Pentagon’s contracting officers for not making sure the job was done…"
2 things: These contracting officers, if they are Active Duty military (many are DoD civilians) they are desk jockeys, a long way and time from combat experience – if any – and it is an active war zone so surely they aren't going to be running around "out there" checking that local Afghan contractors are actually doing what they're paid to do 'cause it isn't safe.
And 2nd: In the old days, the military actually did the work themselves. That way, they were sure the work was done, and mostly correctly, because they were ensuring their own well being. With the DoD (and Congressional) push toward out-sourcing things the military used to do, they've put the military members at the mercy of non-military contractors – and now even non-American contractors who may not have the best interests of the US military at heart. snark.
Pardon me while I fail to have any concern over contractor corruption or FedGov deaths in Afghanistan.