Ranking Member Tierney's Continued Efforts to Cut Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Wartime Contracting

Continuing his long history of highlighting waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contracting, on May 24, 2012, National Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John F. Tierney sent joint letters with Chairman Jason Chaffetz to Supreme Foodservice GmbH and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) requesting a host of documents relating to their ongoing investigation into a multi-billion dollar contract to provide food and other supplies to American bases in Afghanistan.

According to internal reports and other documents obtained by the Subcommittee, Pentagon officials have concluded that $757 million in charges submitted by Supreme over the past six years are unsupported and lack proper documentation to justify the charges.

Read the letter to Supreme Foodservice GmbH

Read the letter to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)

Read the 2008 DCAA Audit and 2011 DCAA Audit

Follow the links below for more information on his work to save taxpayers money by cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contracting.

In 2005, Ranking Member John Tierney co-authored legislation, with then-Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA), to establish a select committee to conduct oversight on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This legislation is credited with leading the way to the creation of the Commission of Wartime Contracting which was passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in 2007.

In 2010, then ChairmanTierney led a National Security Subcommittee investigation of jet fuel contracts in Kyrgyzstan, a major transit hub for Afghanistan, and issued a report, entitled Mystery at Manas, that outlined serious concerns regarding potential corruption and a lack of oversight. The Kyrgyz prosecutor general is now conducting a criminal investigation into allegations of corruption in those fuel contracts.

In June 2010, Tierney released a report entitled, Warlord, Inc. Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan which was the culmination of a six-month investigation into the Department of Defense's Host Nation Trucking (HNT) contract. Tierney found that the DoD's principal logistics contract in Afghanistan had bred a vast extortion racket that was a major source of funding for insurgents, warlords, and criminal patronage networks.

In response to Rep. Tierney's 2010 investigation, DoD established two task forces to address the problem of contracting corruption. In July 2011, the Washington Post reported that the Task Force concurred with Chairman Tierney's findings and concluded that the trucking contract was a major source of funding for malign actors. In August 2011, the AP reported that Task Force 2010 had identified $360 million from U.S. contingency contracts in Afghanistan that had been diverted to warlords, powerbrokers, criminal patronage networks, or insurgents. The Commission on Wartime Contracting also confirmed billions in waste in war spending days before Chairman Tierney introduced legislation to implement one their recommendations.

In the 112th Congress Ranking Member Tierney introduced legislation to establish a Special Inspector General for Overseas Contingency Operations, Tierney stating: "The efforts of the Commission, along with SIGIR and SIGAR, have shown the critical importance of real-time oversight in our overseas operations. We need to preserve the unique capabilities of these three entities in a single, permanent inspector general with a flexible, deployable cadre of oversight specialists."

During the 112th Congress Tierney has participated in multiple hearings as Ranking Member of the National Security Subcommittee. In September 2011, at Tierney's request, the Subcommittee continued oversight of the Subcommittee's 2010 investigation of contracting corruption in the U.S. Army's $2.2 billion Afghanistan Host Nation Trucking contract. In October 2011, the Subcommittee held its second hearing on the status of preparations by the Defense and State Department for the transition of responsibilities to a civilian-led mission in Iraq. Also in October 2011, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the Commission on Wartime Contracting's final report to Congress, which highlighted up to $60 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in contingency contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In December 2011, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the roles of the inspectors general in monitoring American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.