Pentagon officials have saved $1.1 billion by implementing 161 of the 209 suggestions the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has issued since 2008 for ways to avoid unnecessary spending by the federal government, improve safety for Americans and Afghans and increase accountability to U.S. taxpayers.
The remaining 48 recommendations were either closed without being implemented or remain open and pending, according to a report on the status of all recommendations made public Tuesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Most of them involved the development of Afghan security forces and the safety of U.S. personnel and their reconstruction sites. Others focused on contracting, accountability and construction problems
In addition to the $1.1 billion put to better use, recommendations from seven performance audits also helped the Defense Department recover an additional $11.1 million in questioned costs.
Among the seven audits was a September 2013 review finding the Pentagon hadn’t considered the fact that Afghan security forces were drawing down in its plan to spend billions building them bases and facilities. After taking into account SIGAR’s recommendations to roll back construction on more than 100 projects, the Department of Defense saved between $600 and 800 million.
Twelve of the 13 recommendations that remain open were made a year or more ago. Others were closed after defense officials disagreed with the watchdog’s findings or ignored them for so long that SIGAR decided the recommendations had become “obsolete.”
For example, the discovery that Pentagon contracting officers might have been inadvertently funding the Taliban and other hostile insurgent groups by not screening subcontractors or requiring their prime contractors to do so was met with disagreement from the Department of Defense in April 2013.
Although “SIGAR maintains that requiring prime contractors to certify that they do not have subcontracts with the enemy is an important safeguard against U.S. funds being diverted to individuals and entities threatening the U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” SIGAR said it closed out the recommendation when it “determined that no further action would be taken.”
Some of the recommendations Defense Department officials never implemented were closed out because SIGAR planned additional audit work that could replace pending recommendations.
In all, SIGAR reviewed 61 performance audits, inspections and financial audits it had issued between its inception in January 2008 and June 2014. Go here for the full report.
