KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Last year, the Defense Department assumed primary responsibility for the training of the Afghan National Police from the State Department, but not without some costly mistakes, according to a joint State and DOD Inspector General report released Thursday.
The report was a follow-up to last year’s, in which investigators found that State Department-hired trainers did not provide the ANP with the skills necessary to fight the insurgency.
While a future report will assess how well the transition was carried out, the report released Thursday focused on whether funds were properly administered.
The report found the State Department “did not appropriately obligate or return to DOD approximately $172.4 million of approximately $1.26 billion of DOD funds provided for the ANP training program.” That’s because the State Department “lacked adequate procedures for obligating, mentoring and deobligating DOD funds” for the training program, a summary of the report said.
The report (www.dodig.mil/Audit/reports/fy11/11-080.pdf) cited what it said was the State Department’s failure at times to “perform a detailed review of invoices before payment,” relying instead on a post-payment assessment of bills and charges to identify overpayments.
Auditors also pointed out challenges on the DOD side; DOD acknowledged it lacked controls over the transfer of millions of dollars involving a State Department entity called the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, which works with the ANP.
Among its recommendations, the report said both departments “should develop procedures for monitoring the obligation and expenditure of DOD funds for the ANP training program.”
The report also found that the State Department contracting representative “approved contractor invoices for payment for approximately $2.07 million that were either not authorized or were for services not provided.”
DynCorp International Inc., the largest U.S. contractor in Afghanistan, should refund the State Department for costs that “were either not authorized or for services not provided” for Afghan police training work, according to the report.
DynCorp has been under contract since February 2004. The total contract value through April of this year was about $4.66 billion, the report said.
“We understand and respect the important role of those charged with oversight, will review the report’s recommendations, and will work to resolve them to the satisfaction of the government,” Ashley Vanarsdall Burke, DynCorp’s vice president for communications, wrote in an e-mail.
