WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has nearly doubled its dependence on contractors in the last 10 years, according to a new report.
The Government Accountability Office reported Jan. 18 that DOD's service contracts -- for activities ranging from administrative support, to health care and housekeeping -- jumped from $82.3 billion in 1996 to $141.2 billion in fiscal year 2005.
That is more than one-third of the defense budget.
At the same time, the Defense Department has been trying to save money by shrinking the size of the acquisition workforce, the people who oversee the contracts and review them for cost accountability, value and performance.
The decision to rely on increasingly on contractors is partly forced by events (an increase in the pace of military operations even with a small military) and by philosophy. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believed the competitive marketplace would provide the better prices and performances than the same jobs performed by government employees.
The GAO says that philosophy has not been put to the test.
"Obtaining reasonable prices depends on the benefits of a competitive environment, but we have continually reported on cases in which DOD sacrificed competition for the sake of expediency," states the GAO report.
Expressed as a percent, DOD contracting for health care services has increased the most, from $1.6 billion to $8 billion, a jump of 412 percent.
The next highest increase is professional, administrative and management support, which increased by 161 percent, from $10.8 billion to $28.3 billion.
Even research and development is increasingly outsourced. It increased by 54 percent from 1996 to 2005, jumping from $23.7 billion to $37 billion.
