Oversight of contracts—which can refer to contract administration functions, quality assurance surveillance, corrective action, property administration, and past performance evaluation—ultimately rests with the contracting officer, who has the responsibility for ensuring that contractors meet the requirements as set forth in the contract. Frequently, however, contracting officers are not located in the contingency area or at the installations where the services are being provided. As a result, contracting officers appoint contract monitors who are responsible for monitoring contractor performance. For some contracts, such as LOGCAP or theaterwide service contracts like the Afghan trucking contract or some Afghan security guard contracts, contracting officers may delegate contract oversight to the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to monitor contractor performance. In Afghanistan, DCMA teams include administrative contracting officers, and quality assurance representatives, who ensure that the contractors perform work to the standards written in the contracts and oversee the CORs assigned to DCMA-administered contracts. The DCMA team also includes property administrators and subject matter experts who advise the agency on technical issues such as food service, electrical engineering, and fire safety. DCMA does not administer construction contracts because according to the head of DCMA in Afghanistan it lacks the technical expertise to manage these types of contracts. Generally, construction contracts in Afghanistan are administered by organizations like the Army Corps of Engineers, or they may be administered by the contracting officer assisted by a COR. If DCMA is not delegated responsibility for administrative oversight of a contract, the contracting officer who awarded the contract is responsible for the administration and oversight of the contract. These contracting officers, such as those from the CENTCOM Contracting Command, appoint CORs or contracting officer’s technical representatives to monitor contractor performance. CORs appointed by the CENTCOM contracting command and others are typically drawn from units receiving contractor- provided services. These individuals are not normally contracting specialists and serve as contract monitors as an additional duty. They cannot direct the contractor by making commitments or changes that affect price, quality, quantity, delivery, or other terms and conditions of the contract. Instead, they act as the eyes and ears of the contracting officer and serve as the liaison between the contractor, the contracting officer, and the unit receiving support or services. In Afghanistan, CORs who have been appointed as contracting officer’s representatives for contracts administered by DCMA report their oversight results to DCMA personnel. For contracts not administered by DCMA, CORs provide oversight information to the contracting officer, who may be located in Afghanistan or outside the theater of operations. In addition to their oversight responsibilities, CORs have been tasked with other duties such as developing statements of work, developing requirements approval paperwork and preparing funding documents. DOD has added new training for CORs serving in contingencies, but some gaps in training remain and not all of the required training is being conducted or completed. In Afghanistan, much of the day-to-day surveillance of contracted projects is done by CORs. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires that quality assurance, such as surveillance, be performed at such times and places as necessary to determine that the goods or services conform to contract requirements. DOD guidance requires CORs be trained and assigned prior to award of a contract. DOD training is intended to familiarize the COR with the duties and responsibilities of contract oversight and management. Contracting organizations such as CENTCOM Contracting Command require that personnel nominated to be CORs complete specific online training courses, as well as locally developed training and contract-specific training, before they can serve as CORs. DOD has taken some actions to improve the capability of CORs to provide management and oversight of contracts in contingency operations such as Afghanistan. These actions include developing a new COR training course, with a focus on contingency operations, and developing a COR certification program. Additionally, DOD has begun to emphasize the need for qualified CORs in military doctrine and other guidance with the publication of Joint Publication 4-10, Operational Contract Support and the Defense Contingency Contracting Representatives Officers Handbook and memoranda issued by the Deputy Secretary of Defense. However, our analysis of DOD’s COR training and interviews with CORs and contracting personnel from organizations like the regional contracting centers and the Defense Contract Management Agency indicated that some gaps and limitations continue to exist. According to personnel in Afghanistan, none of the required COR training provides enough specifics about contract management and oversight in Afghanistan. For example, the required training does not provide CORs with information regarding important issue areas like the Afghan First Program, which encourages an increased use of local personnel and vendors for goods and services as part of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy, and working with private security contractors. Some CORs told us that they were unfamiliar with the challenges of working with Afghan contractors, and had believed that contracting with Afghan vendors would be similar to contracting with U.S vendors. However, some of the CORs and other contracting officials we interviewed said they found that providing oversight to Afghan contractors is more challenging than working with other vendors because Afghan vendors often did not meet the time lines established by the contract, did not provide the quality products and the services the units had anticipated, and did not necessarily have a working knowledge of English. For example, one COR told us during our visit in February 2011, that the unit was still waiting for barriers that they had contracted for in May 2010. While some of the barriers had been delivered, the unit had not received all of the barriers they required even though the contract delivery date had passed. Other CORs and contracting officials and contract management officials described similar situations where services were not provided as anticipated or not provided at all. As a result, items such as portable toilets, barriers, gates, water, and other items or services were not available at some locations when needed, raising concerns about security, readiness, and morale. Officials we spoke with noted similar problems with construction contracts awarded to Afghan contractors. For example, according to another COR, an Afghan contractor was awarded a $70,000 contract to build a latrine, shower, and shave unit. However, when the contractor was unable to satisfactorily complete the project, another contract was awarded for approximately $130,000 to bring the unit to usable condition. Similarly contracting officials provided documentation of other construction problems including, a latrine or shower facility built without drains, and a facility constructed in the wrong location, and facilities that were poorly constructed. Because of the nature and sensitivity of security contracts, CORs for private security contractor contracts have unique responsibilities. For example, CORs are responsible for compiling a monthly weapon’s discharge report and for ensuring contractor adherence to contractual obligations on topics such as civilian arming requirements, personnel reporting systems, property accountability and badging. According to a senior military officer with U.S. Forces Afghanistan’s private security contractor taskforce, because of gaps in training, CORs do not always understand the full scope of their responsibilities and so do not always ensure that a contractor is meeting all contract requirements. He noted that CORs do not always understand that they have the responsibility to ensure that the terms of the contract are met and therefore do not bring contractors’ performance issues to the contracting officer’s attention for resolution. As a result, DOD may pay contractors for poor performance and installations may not receive the level of security contracted. Further, we found that the training programs do not provide enough information on preparing statements of work or preparing documentation for acquisition review boards—two responsibilities that CORs are routinely tasked with. The Defense Contingency COR Handbook describes statements of work as specifying the basic top-level objectives of the acquisition as well as the detailed requirements of the government. The statement of work may provide the contractor with ‘how to” instructions to accomplish the required effort, and forms part of the basis for successful performance by the contractor. Well-written statements of work are needed to ensure that units get the services and goods needed in the required time frame. CORs we spoke to highlight the problems they encountered when preparing statements of work. For example, several CORs told us of instances when statements of work needed to be rewritten because the original statements of work did not include all required contractor actions, or because they included incorrect requirements. Military officials responsible for reviewing and approving requests for contract support told us that poorly written statements of work are a principal reason why units do not receive the contract support they require. In 2000 and 2004, we reported that poorly written statements of work can result in increased costs and in contractors providing services that do not meet the requirements of the customer. According to DOD, the acquisition review board—known in Afghanistan as the Joint Acquisition Review Board—reviews and recommends approval or disapproval of proposed acquisitions to ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness and so it is important that CORs understand and are able to complete the required documentation in order to obtain needed goods and services. Furthermore, in addition to required on-line training, CENTCOM Contracting Command guidance requires that contracting officers discuss with CORs their specific contract requirements and responsibilities after they have been nominated and before they have begun their duties. However, contracting officers we interviewed at regional contracting centers in Afghanistan said they are frequently unable to provide the required contract-specific training for CORs because they are busy awarding contracts. Without this follow-on training on the specific contract, the COR may not have a clear understanding of how to perform contract oversight or the full scope of their responsibilities. In contrast, DCMA is able to provide specific contract training and mentoring to its CORs because DCMA has quality assurance personnel who have been tasked with providing COR training and assistance. Although CORs are selected from a group of candidates who have completed the basic COR training, their technical expertise, or lack thereof is not always taken into consideration when they are appointed to oversee contracts. The Defense Contingency COR handbook indicates that CORs are responsible for determining whether products delivered or services rendered by the contractor conform to the requirements for the service or commodity covered under the contract.