Page 254 - Global Project Management Handbook

LESSONS LEARNED: REBUILDING IRAQ IN 2004 12-15

Audits and Auditors
Because of the cost-plus contracting approach and the common requirement to pay
Iraqi subcontractors in cash, numerous audits were required. It was not unusual to
have three to five different audit agencies working on several different audits at any
given point in time. For example, as of August 8, 2004, there were 8 audits in
progress, 6 audits scheduled to start in fourth quarter 2004, and an additional 12 audits
scheduled to start in 2005. The Department of Army Audit Agency and the
Department of Defense Audit Agency seemed to have a permanent presence in
Baghdad. Since audits were common, the PCO had its own auditor on staff to provide
advice as to how to best meet later audit requirements and to also advise PCO staff as
to how to respond to audit requests.

Employee Turnover and Quality
There were three types of employees working in the PCO office: military, civilian
government employees hired on a part-time status for this rebuilding effort, and con-
tractors. In general, the quality of all employees was exceptional. Not only were the
people involved bright, but they also had good, applicable experience, and everyone
maintained a positive attitude on a daily basis. While personnel quality was high,
employee turnover was a problem. Following is a brief discussion of the employee
turnover by type of employee:
● Military. The military was concerned with stress experienced while working in a war
zone. The military’s goal was to minimize the cases of posttraumatic stress while maxi-
mizing the length of the tour of duty in the war zone. The Navy had done a study on the
occurrence of posttraumatic stress and determined that the optimal tour length was seven
months. Each service set its length of tours differently. The tour lengths by service were
as follows:
● Army: 12 months
● Air Force: Originally 3 months; then moved to 4 months in August 2004
● Marines: 7 months

● Navy: 6 months
While the military tours of duty were short, the quality and capability of military per-
sonnel working on the rebuilding program were excellent. Most had had 10 to 20 years
of experience as “base engineers” or “base facilities managers,” and their familiarity
with the government procurement process was a big plus.

● Civilian government employees. A federal law allows the government to hire employ-
ees on a temporary status with full benefits. Since the number of the law was 3161,
these temporary government employees were referred to as “3161 employees.” The
federal government also has an absolute pay cap of approximately $175,000 per year.
While working in a war zone, it was common for these employees to work and bill
seven 12-hour days per week, receive a 25 percent pay bump for working overseas,
and receive a second 25 percent pay bump for working in a war zone. The combination
of 84-hour work weeks with the two 25 percent pay bumps caused most, if not all,
government employees to hit the pay cap in six to eight months. Once the employee hit
the pay cap, he or she usually would quit and go home. Also, government policy
allowed for only one R&R trip per year.