Military Contracts Blamed For Walter Reed Problems

Officials Say Outsourcing Partly to Blame for Walter Reed Failures

Many of my previous posts have dealt with the abuses, waste and fraud in government contracts, especially those tied to defense spending, the military and especially those associated with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it enrages me that the government would have the unmitigated gall to blame outsourcing and external contracts for many of the problems occurring at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military and VA facilities. Just who in the hell are they trying to defraud? Even with outsourcing in place, it is still the responsibility of this government, and all its various departments and agencies, including the DOD and the Pentagon, to manage the resources, conditions and operations serving our troops and vets.

No, outsourcing is not to blame for the issues and problems at WRAMC... President Bush and his minions are to blame. We must remember what Harry Truman reminded us of quite frequently while he held our highest office: the buck stops at the big desk in the Oval Office.

During a Monday hearing to investigate widely publicized problems at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, lawmakers and Army officials placed partial blame on a public-private job competition that sapped the facility of workers, and on uncertainty about the slated closure of the center in the ongoing Base Realignment and Closure process.

Several lawmakers questioned whether it had been a mistake to outsource base operations support through a competition conducted under the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76 rules. The Walter Reed competition began in January 2000 and went through numerous protests and appeals. The contractor selected to perform the work, Cape Canaveral, Fla.-based IAP Worldwide Services, finally took over operations on Feb. 4 of this year.

"We certainly could have done it better, and maybe we shouldn't have done it at all," said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the head of the Army Medical Command and Walter Reed's commander from 2002 to 2004, in response to a question from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired last week from his command of the center after holding the position for just more than six months, testified that over the course of the extended competition, "not knowing the future has affected garrison operations."

Weightman said the combination of outsourcing and the BRAC process, which is slated to close Walter Reed and consolidate many of its services into the nearby, Bethesda-based National Naval Medical Center, was a "huge destabilizing force on the civilian workforce," which he said represents two-thirds of Walter Reed personnel.