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thedrifter
06-11-07, 06:36 AM
Watchdog: Sic Congress on acquisition program
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 10, 2007 8:52:30 EDT

The Marine Corps’ acquisition system is broken and warrants a congressional investigation, according to a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group.

The Project on Government Oversight based its accusation on internal briefing slides that show less than 10 percent of more than 130 urgent needs requests made by Marines in Iraq were fulfilled.

Of the 130 urgent need requests made, the vast majority were “cancelled, delayed or solutions [were] not what was asked for,” the slides, compiled by I Marine Expeditionary Force, said. POGO released the documents May 31.

The documents go on to show that I MEF Marines believed their needs were competing against already funded programs.

“Resistance costs time,” the slides said. “Unnecessary delays cause U.S. friendly and innocent Iraqi deaths and injuries.”

The insider criticism of the Corps’ acquisition system warrants lawmaker scrutiny, an investigator for the watchdog group said.

“The Congress should undertake an in-depth investigation into the situation with rapid acquisition at the Defense Department to ensure that the right balance is struck between getting equipment into the field rapidly while maintaining accountability,” said Nick Schwellenback, POGO defense investigator.

Programs such as the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle took 19 months to come into fruition after the initial urgent needs request was made in February 2005, Schwellenback said.

“There is obviously some healthy tension between the traditional acquisition community’s desire to ensure that money is spent well on tested and robust systems and the need to get systems into the field rapidly, but Marines in the field cannot wait years while known and proven off-the-shelf solutions exist,” he said.

I MEF spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Salas has previously downplayed the significance of the document.

“That document is a draft working paper that was not approved by the command,” Salas said May 25. “It was seen and disapproved because it was too narrow a focus for such a complex issue,” referring to the process for requesting gear from the field.

“We get a robust debate, different perspectives in order to come up with plans and actions ... to give the commander the best advice possible,” Salas said.

The paper “was one part of the debate,” he added.

Spokesmen said they could not yet respond to specific questions and accusations regarding the POGO report as of June 8. However, Maj. Jay Delarosa, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters, said that the Corps’ top priority is pushing the best equipment available out to combat troops.

“The Marine Corps is continuously looking into and improving existing technologies to mitigate and eliminate improvised explosive devices, mines and [rocket-propelled grenade] threats to save lives,” he said.

However, technology updates take time, Delarosa said.

“Procurement decisions are complex and require careful study and coordination. Solutions must be technologically feasible, supportable from an industry standpoint and meet the commanders’ needs,” he said.

Once a program is in place, it must be manufactured, fielded and a maintenance base established, he added.

The internal Corps documents are prompting POGO to further investigate defense acquisition, spokeswoman Beth Daley said.

Ellie