By Robert Brodsky
The Defense Department relies excessively on a growing band of private contract specialists to assist with its acquisitions, blurring the line between federal employees and contractors and opening the door for serious conflicts of interest, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
Auditors found that 42 percent of the Army Contracting Agency's Contracting Center of Excellence's contract specialists work for private industry but often were not identified as such when dealing with the public.
These contractor employees, who assist in preparing statements of work, managing acquisition plans and drawing up contracting documents, are paid 27 percent more than their similarly graded federal counterparts, even when including benefits. The contractors, however, were found to have more acquisition-related experience than the federal employees. In 2007, CCE handled nearly $1.8 billion in contracts.
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