From the Wash Post:
The Air Force, under pressure from the Pentagon, committed a "gross error" last year when it rushed to sign a no-bid contract for advisers to help plan and implement Iraq's national elections and draft its constitution, the Government Accountability Office has ruled.
OK, so the Air Force did some quickie contracting (worth about $40 million). But here's what I want to know: WTF was the Air Force doing in charge of hiring advisors for Iraq's elections and constitution? Is there a Top Gun school for constitution drafting I don't know about?
P.S. The Post has some interesting background:
The program, according to the report, grew out of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council, which the Pentagon created in 2003 to help the Coalition Provisional Authority establish an Iraqi government. The council contained about 150 Iraqi exiles -- including lawyers, physicians, and others with links to ethnic or tribal groups.
That group dissolved along with the CPA in June 2004. But shortly thereafter, Paul D. Wolfowitz, then deputy defense secretary, "determined that the success of the United States war effort" required experts in "reconstruction and governance," the report said. Wolfowitz sought to enable 50 to 75 council members to operate independently throughout the country, according to the report. The program originally called for "Western oriented individuals of Iraqi background" but was later changed to Iraqis with U.S. citizenship.
The Pentagon asked the Air Force to issue the contract. The service initially attempted to use an environmental contracting mechanism to hire the advisers but dropped the plan. An Air Force contracting director determined the failed effort was the result of overzealous personnel, who were "leaning way forward in the saddle" and were "not in the habit of saying no to anyone."
With only a few months remaining before the January 2005 elections and "experiencing what it perceived to be significant pressure" from the Pentagon to deliver the bilingual advisers, the Air Force decided there was no time for a competition.
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