DynCorp Wins Contract Dispute Over Afghan Police Training

Re-tooling the Afghan national police as a counterinsurgency force is a critical part of the military mission in Afghanistan. Now that effort will be delayed because of a misbegotten attempt by the U.S. Army to shortcut the contract process.

The Government Accountability Office Monday told the U.S. Army to start over in its search for bids for a $1.6 billion effort to overhaul police training. The GAO ruled in favor of DynCorp International, the company currently training Afghan police, which had protested that the process was unfairly skewed toward its rivals.

The GAO recommended the Army "conduct a full and open competition" or, under federal regulations, provide justification for a limited competition. The GAO also told the Army to pay DynCorp's legal costs connected to the protest.

The contract dispute arose during a key transition time in Afghanistan. DynCorp's contract to train police in Afghanistan--originally overseen by the State Department-- was to have ended in January. State's contract with DynCorp, worth some $440 million since 2004, was extended until August because of the protest.

Hours after the GAO ruling, military sources said that existing contract with DynCorp could be extended again--as late as into December--to ensure that police training continues in Afghanistan. Spokesmen from the State Department and Pentagon declined comment on how the delay would affect training.

The Pentagon wants to nearly double the number of police in Afghanistan by 2013. Improving the police is an imperative in the new strategy laid out by the Obama administration last year. The police are seen as the weak link in the fight against the insurgency. The Defense Department argued persuasively last year that it, rather than the State Department, needed to oversee instruction and to add more robust tactical and counterinsurgency skills.

Once the transition from State to Pentagon was approved, the Army moved quickly to find an existing contract that could be amended to add police training.

The Army eventually added two orders for the training to a three-year-old existing contract, issued under the Space and Missile Defense Command to cover counterterrorism and technological needs. Five companies--including Blackwater, Raytheon and Northrup Grumman--were principals on the contract and were also seen as viable candidates as police trainers.

But DynCorp was not part of that contract and called foul. By December, DynCorp filed a protest to the GAO that police training and mentoring did not rightfully fall under the scope of the contract.

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Comments

[ETSpoon]

09:26 AM on 03/16/2010

Let's see...a criminal mercenary company, whose police trainers in Bosnia are accused of trafficking in prostitutes, cries foul when its left out of a rigged Pentagon bidding procedure, wins in court and the Army pays their legal fees. And this is after the State Department already p!ssed away $440 million of our tax payer dollars.

O.K.

Now can any of you "shrink-government-until-it-can-be-drowned-in-a-bathtub" libertarian tea baggers explain to me how this system of privatized police training is more efficient and less expensive for the tax payer?

[Barryfromtexas]

09:54 AM on 03/16/2010

I am trying to figure how how come they award a 1.6 billion contract when Dyncorp was doing the same job for the State Dept since 2004 for around 73 million a year - maybe they just get raises.

[ETSpoon]

10:27 AM on 03/16/2010

New uniforms?

[Countess]

08:25 AM on 03/16/2010

The cost of corruption is skyrocketing!

[Barryfromtexas]

06:36 AM on 03/16/2010

I wonder what the Statement of Work for this contract is at 1.6 billion

[belogical2010]

05:25 AM on 03/16/2010

Why does it cost 1.6 billion to train Afghan police, when it only costs 300 millions to keep 30,000 US troops there for a year.
This system that has developed with military contractors is corrupted. We have military people all over the place who could do that job why spend much needed dollars on that.

[Barryfromtexas]

06:43 AM on 03/16/2010

What is more interesting - According to the article Dyncorp had a contract doing the same job for US State Depy for $440 million since 2004 - that is basically $73 million a year - so that 1.6 billion pricetag really needs to be analyzed

[Reyeshawk]

12:45 PM on 04/17/2010

Maybe Dyncorp was investing with Bernie Madoff and needed to recoup their losses.

[lost souls rembrd]

10:26 PM on 03/15/2010

***OUT OF 'THE' WAR....

Or......should I say 'occupation'

[lost souls rembrd]

10:25 PM on 03/15/2010

Get these private contractors OUT OF OUR WAR! Period.

[lazercat2008]

10:22 PM on 03/15/2010

It's just money, right?

US: DynCorp Billed U.S. $50 Million Beyond Costs in Defense Contract
by V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post
August 12th, 2009
A Defense Department auditor, appearing before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, testified Tuesday that DynCorp International billed the government $50 million more than the amount specified in a contract to provide dining facilities and living quarters for military personnel in Kuwait.

[lazercat2008]

10:19 PM on 03/15/2010

Earlier that year Ben Johnston, a DynCorp aircraft mechanic for Apache and Blackhawk helicopters in Kosovo, filed a lawsuit against his employer. The suit alleged that that in the latter part of 1999 Johnson "learned that employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and [participating in] other immoral acts."

The suit charges that "Johnston witnessed coworkers and supervisors literally buying and selling women for their own personal enjoyment, and employees would brag about the various ages and talents of the individual slaves they had purchased." "DynCorp is just as immoral and elite as possible, and any rule they can break they do," Johnston told Insight magazine. He charged that the company also billed the Army for unnecessary repairs and padded the payroll.

Sounds par for the course.

[jalaroc]

10:10 PM on 03/15/2010

The army tried to do it quick and dirty. As far as Dyncorp, I've worked in an area where they had a contract. They're about the biggest bunch of incompetent crybabies you'll ever see. They underbid on the contract to get it and then complained that they didn't have the resources to do the work that the contract demanded. Then, they complained about our contract abusing equipment that they were contracted to maintain (example: vehicle abuse for going forward through painted lines to get out of the parking lot instead of backing up, which they said that indicated a problem with the transmission. Our supervisor had to inspect the vehicle and confirm it could back up. Another was complaining that the vehicles weren't clean and washed when brought in for maintenance while when we picked them up, we found remains of lunches in the back seat, cigarette butts in the ash tray, and coffee cups in the cup holders). The...on the ground evaluators were pretty unhappy with their performance but word got around to stop complaining and the customer gave them marks above 90%. They were a soup sandwich who would complain and pass the buck at the drop of a hat.

[padrushka]

06:11 AM on 03/16/2010

why are they there to start with?? crybabies or no,hardly the point. paid mercenaries are only there to skirt legal issues with our gov't blessings ..americans need the wasted billions spent on these nefarious operations. it is unconscionable the government allows brutal crimes perpetrated in the name of american taxpayers. totally disgusting!!!

[Fred Hood]

09:53 PM on 03/15/2010

the news today said.......in my state they are increasing class sizes.......laying off teachers......increasing all state collage tuition...............to balance the state budget on the backs of education........while we train cops in never never land........DO NOT LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN

[brit prof]

09:40 PM on 03/15/2010

Remember this? Rather prophetic. Especially for Hollywood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOZllbNarw

[NoFactsJustTruth]

09:25 PM on 03/15/2010

I hope I'm NOT the only one that would like to see word for word the 'oaths' taken at each different company and by every single mercenary from anywhere that claims to in ANY way represent - OUR country.

[brit prof]

11:22 PM on 03/15/2010

Do mercenaries take oaths? Don't they simply sign contracts? They're not fighting for queen and country, after all. They're fighting for money.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

12:15 AM on 03/16/2010

I guess my concern is the extent to which any mercenary corporations can hide from the Rule of Law, even while they're abusing it, by blessing of a 'contract' with the U.S. Government.
It's likely a safe bet they don't readily publish their oaths for the world to see, and if they actually even have them you can bet defending and protecting OUR Constitution - is difficult to find there.

You raise an inherent truth though; "They're fighting for money".
Less than a century ago, military and defense contractors were prosecuted for 'war profiteering', and OUR country hired NO mercenaries (publicly).

[Fred Hood]

09:23 PM on 03/15/2010

1.6 billion to train Afghans paid to the X backwater bunch that changed their name.......raped.......ki//ed civilians in Iraq..........kidnapped...........stole weapons...........yea that's the one.........and we paid their legal fees to fight competition........does anyone else see a problem with this.........I write O ever week about this rouge forece that is being made stronger with our hard earned tax dollars......turn this over to the military........fire backwater.......use the 1.6 billion to educate our kids.........in my town they just increased the class size.........and plan to balance the state shortfall all on educations back........THIS IS SICK.......
The Pentagon wants to nearly double the number of police in Afghanistan by 2013........WHERE WILL THIS WASTE END......WHEN WE ARE ALL BROKE AND ONE PERCENT OWN OUR SOLES

[melton244]

09:35 PM on 03/15/2010

Hey, Fred, Did you get a chance to read that article yet???

[Fred Hood]

09:46 PM on 03/15/2010

for what......

[Fred Hood]

09:49 PM on 03/15/2010

they are all crooks..........under any name........it is part of a plan to steal all of our money.......and mortgage our kids future........END IT NOW TODAY

[edified]

08:25 PM on 04/16/2010

I hear ya Fred!!
And I'm pissed too!!.

[ObamAtomic]

09:00 PM on 03/15/2010

Outsourcing mercenaries to train the Afghan police for millions of Dollar.

[Fred Hood]

09:50 PM on 03/15/2010

that would be billions......1.6 billion.......in my state they are closing schools to make up for state tax shortfalls...........

[ObamAtomic]

12:04 AM on 03/16/2010

Same in my state,I understand Billions,I don't want to be pushy,trolls abound around here