Chairman McCaskill Releases Report on Counternarcotics Contracts Share This /

On Tuesday, June 7, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight released a report (PDF) criticizing the federal government for increasing spending on counternarcotics contracts in Latin America without improving oversight or evaluating results. The report, released by Subcommittee Chair Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), is an in-depth analysis of spending on counternarcotics contracts from 2005 to 2009 by the State Department and the Department of Defense. During this four-year period, the government spent more the $3.1 billion on counternarcotics contracts in Latin America.

The report’s key findings include:

• Increased Spending on Counternarcotics Contracts: From 2005 to 2009 the U.S. government’s spending on counternarcotics contracts in Latin America rose by 32%, from $482 million in 2005 to $635.8 million in 2009. In 2008--the year the Mérida Initiative was signed into law under President Bush--annual spending on counternarcotics contracts hit a peak of $715 million. During the four-year period, the federal government spent at least $1.9 billion on counternarcotics contracts in Colombia alone - more than in any other country in Latin America. (See this required State Department report on contractors in Colombia, which we have occasionally been able to obtain.)
• Insufficient and nontransparent data management: Both the State Department and the Department of Defense lack centralized systems for tracking counternarcotics contract data, making both internal and external oversight very challenging.
• Inadequate contract oversight: The U.S. government has no system or structure in place to assess spending or to evaluate whether or not counternarcotics contracts are meeting their goals.
• Monopolization by large contractors: 57% of spending on counternarcotics contracts was awarded to five contractors: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT, and ARINC. Together these companies received $1.8 billion from 2005 to 2009. The single largest recipient is DynCorp, which received around $1.1 billion or 36% of all counternarcotics contracts.
• Spending on noncompetitive contracts: Between 2005 and 2009 the government spent around $840 million, or 27% of counternarcotics contract dollars, on contracts awarded without adequate competition. The report provides one instance in which the State Department justified a no-bid contract to "miscellaneous foreign contractors" to purchase pickup trucks in Bolivia by stating that the source was unique. The State Department failed to explain "why the particular source was uniquely qualified to provide pickup trucks."

This blog was written by CIP Intern Claire O'Neill McCleskey