Report Contents
What OIG Audited
The Department of State (Department) provides life support services to personnel working in Kabul through the Afghanistan Life Support Service (ALiSS) contract. Services such as the provision of food, fire protection, medical, and security support are provided through a series of individual task orders. In 2015, the Department awarded a 5-year (1 base year and 4 option years) ALiSS food services task order (SAQMMA15F0686) to DynCorp International (DynCorp). The contract task order requires DynCorp to provide 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, across multiple dining facilities on the embassy compound, as well as other outlying Government facilities. As of May 2020, DynCorp is in its last year of the ALiSS task order and has been paid approximately $353 million.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine whether the Department administered the ALiSS food services task order in accordance with Federal regulations, Department policies, and contract terms and conditions.
What OIG Recommends
OIG made five recommendations to the Bureau of Administration, Embassy Kabul, and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs to improve the administration and oversight of future food services task orders. Based on management’s response to a draft of this report, OIG considers all five recommendations resolved pending further action. Management’s comments to the recommendations offered follow each recommendation in the Results section of this report. Management’s written response to a draft of this report is reprinted in its entirety in Appendices B, C, and D, respectively.
What OIG Found
The Department did not administer the ALiSS food services task order in accordance with all applicable Federal regulations, Department policies, and contract terms and conditions. For example, although the Contracting Officer’s Representatives (COR) developed an oversight checklist that included items to monitor, the checklist was insufficient and did not include almost half of the performance standards the COR was required to monitor. Specifically, the checklist the CORs used contained items that corresponded to 15 of 29 (52 percent) of the standards and requirements outlined in the task order. Moreover, the oversight checklists were not maintained properly and the CORs could not provide completed oversight checklists for 33 of 35 (94 percent) of the months reviewed for this audit. Similarly, DynCorp could not provide 148 of 555 (27 percent) of the required food service and health inspector assessments, inspections, and audits. Additionally, DynCorp never established and implemented a cost control plan, as it had indicated in its bid proposal for the task order. Finally, the Department did not consider the declining number of personnel living and working at the embassy compound and outlying U.S. Government facilities when it decided to exercise option year 4. As a result, the number of meals estimated in the task order for option year 4 was higher than it should have been, resulting in the Department paying almost $8.4 million for meals it did not need and that were not provided.
These deficiencies occurred, in part, because the CORs and the Contracting Officer did not sufficiently monitor and implement internal controls to properly guide and document oversight activities. In addition, the effectiveness of the monitoring and oversight of the task order was impacted by the insufficient number of CORs assigned in Kabul to oversee the food service task order. As a result, the Department cannot have reasonable assurance that DynCorp fulfilled all contract terms and conditions in the ALiSS food services task order. Nevertheless, valuable lessons can be learned from the shortcomings identified in this audit and applied during the execution of the future food services task orders.
Report Terms
Report Recommendations
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management, in coordination with U.S. Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, determine whether additional Contracting Officer’s Representatives are required to oversee the Afghanistan Life Support Services contract during the “bridge” year and when it is transitioned to the Diplomatic Platform Support Services contract. If so, take actions to appoint those Contracting Officer’s Representatives.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management, in coordination with U.S. Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, update the COR oversight checklist to include all performance standards and requirements outlined in the ALiSS food services task order (SAQMMA15F0686).
OIG recommends that the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management, in coordination with U.S. Embassy Kabul and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, develop a mechanism to ensure that the CO is routinely monitoring COR performance for the ALiSS food services task order.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management incorporate a requirement for the contractor to develop a cost control plan into the Diplomatic Platform Support Services contract’s request for task order proposals for food services in Afghanistan.
OIG recommends that the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Administration, Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management take appropriate steps to ensure a cost control plan is executed under the Diplomatic Platform Support Services contract’s food services task order in Afghanistan.