Pentagon: We Weren’t Prepared to Monitor Iraq Construction Contracts

Charlie E. Williams, the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency, said at an oversight committee hearing on faulty Iraq wiring that his agency, which audits Iraq war contracts, wasn’t– and still isn’t– capable of monitoring KBR’s multi-billion dollar contract to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure. Williams said that “our services are primarily weapons systems” and that the military was ill-equipped to monitor a KBR contract to provide electricity, water, meals and other basic services to Iraq.

Keith Ernst, the former director of the contracting agency, said it would have been better  to have a “trial run” where they monitored such a service contract outside a war zone. Both the current and former director still say they need more personnel to monitor KBR’s work.