PROCUREMENT PATH FORWARD


on the front lines as responsible stewards of American taxpayer dollars. The Army began a rejuvenation of our COR man- agement and training in December 2009, with the issuance of the Army Execution Order 48-10: Pre-deployment Training for Contracting Officer Representative Candi- dates and Commander’s Emergency Response Program Personnel. This order mandated that deploying brigades have as many as 80 Soldiers designated and trained as CORs. As a result, in calendar years 2010 and 2011, the Army Logistics University trained 8,568 CORs. Additionally, the Expeditionary Contracting Command provided augmentation training to 2,317 Soldiers as CORs since October 2010. More than 5,500 CORs, 5,500 Field Ordering Officers, and 2,700 Project Pur- chasing Officers received theater-specific supplemental training from C3 prior to beginning their assignment.


In addition to training, C3 contracting offi- cers provide CORs with Army-developed tools, such as the COR SmartCard and COR handbooks. Further, the C3 training website contains a number of resources CORs can access. C3 also trains CORs on recognizing and reporting fraud and human trafficking. As a result of these efforts, C3 assigns well-trained CORs to every contract requiring one.


VENDOR PERFORMANCE


The Joint Contingency Contracting System was formed to evaluate host nation vendor past per- formance. Here, an employee at an Afghan First business installs lace eyelets into boots destined for the Afghan National Army, at a factory in Kabul. (Photo by LT Russell Wolfkiel, U.S. Navy.)


Another measure of effective contract management in a contingency environ- ment is the identification and resolution of performance problems. From October 2010 to April 2011, the C3 Senior Con- tracting Official in Afghanistan issued 74 terminations for default after identifying performance problems.


VETTING OF CONTRACTORS The vetting of host nation contractors is a key element in fighting corruption and ensuring security for U.S. warfighters, civilians, and contractors, as well as the


92 Army AL&T Magazine


security of the reconstruction in Afghani- stan. It is critical that we ensure the contractors are competent and they have no ties to bad actors. It is equally impor- tant to vet the local national individuals seeking access to our bases and construc- tion sites as contractor employees.


It has been a struggle to create a vetting process for a country that lacks univer- sal identification criteria. To address this issue, the collection and use of biometric information provide the most reliable means to ensure security. While this data collection is time-consuming and the project is still relatively new, within the first months of use, several positive matches on individuals requesting base access proved the project’s value. The continued use of contractor vetting and biometric identification will enhance security for our personnel and sites.


Vetting contractors and individuals reduces the risk to contracting with bad actors, creates a more secure environment, and therefore helps reduce overall contract per- formance risk. In August 2010, a vetting cell was established at CENTCOM Headquar- ters in Tampa, FL, to evaluate prospective non-U.S. contractor firms in Afghanistan. Non-U.S. vendor information on all con- tract awards and options above $100,000 is tracked in the JCCS system, along with past performance information to prevent future awards to nefarious contractors. We continue to improve and refine our systems and processes.


NEW TRUCKING CONTRACT An important tenet of the counterinsur- gency strategy is to increase awards to Afghan companies. Our intent is to create an environment for Afghan companies to compete. The National Afghan Trucking (NAT) contract responds to this require- ment. Let me take a moment to provide an update on our actions in addition


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