Good Background on the Big Picture
James Jay Carafano, an expert at the Heritage Foundation and West Point graduate, has written an interesting backgrounder article called Contracting in Combat: Advice for the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
Carafano is also the author of a book I am currently reading called: Private Sector/Public Wars: Contracting in Combat-Iraq, Afghanistan and Future Conflicts.
His lastest book
His paper (which you can read here) included several “talking points” of interest to anyone following the military contracting industry:
By 2007, there were more than 100,000 civilians working under U.S. government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. By some estimates, contractors account for 40 percent of operational costs.
• The Commission on Wartime Contracting is due to issue an interim report in 2009, which should focus on specific priorities in order to provide a blueprint for building an optimum system for contract employees in combat conditions.
• The government must improve its capacity to make and oversee contracts, particularly by fixing the lack of competent contracting officers.
• A new process should be implemented for determining the most effective times and missions for employing contractors.
• The U.S. military should revive its operations research and maintain a robust corps of operational research analysts for evaluating and determining the needs of the military that can be met by the private sector for future operations.
What I found particularly interesting was his vision of “What the Future Could Look Like”:
An experienced and capable contracting officer at all deployed locations.
Contracting officers armed with all the support tools and authorities they need to do their job. A government workforce with sufficient authority to do a job well and that will be held accountable for its areas of responsibility. Contracting officers will work closely with all military forces and other interagency representatives in their areas of responsibility. They will supervise contracts under a contingency contracting process capable of matching the needs of the force with contractors qualified and equipped to do the job.
The contracting officer and the contractors themselves will be overseen by an integrated, qualified team of auditors and inspectors who provide real oversight and accountability, but who do not interfere with the ability of the contractors to do their jobs. All their work will be part of a system that provides visibility and transparency so that everyone who needs to understand the process and why will have access to the relevant information.
Clearly contracting is an aspect of military operations that will stay. This means that both the military and the industry must take a much longer view about making the process work.
For the Danger Zone Jobs reader, the important point, given this long-term view, is that contracting could have a career path, which means paying attention to career planning, especially if the market tightens after troop drawdowns.
Instead of the one off contract to Iraq or Afghanistan for example, contractors could take an approach similar to the military: assignments overseas followed by assignments back in the US, but staying within the contracting industry.
But in the survey that we published (see Free Report You Really Must Read), I asked “Does your career path include working as a contractor in the US as well as overseas”.
50% said no, only overseas.
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