WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today requested additional information on costs incurred by New Century Consulting (NCC)—a contractor that McCaskill’s previous efforts revealed had left taxpayers on the hook for over $50 million in questionable costs, including seven luxury vehicles and exorbitant salaries for significant others of corporate executives.
“Given the problems we’ve seen with this contractor, we need to keep pushing for information,” said McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor. “Tens of millions of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars were wasted by this company, and I plan to continue seeking answers to ensure this behavior has ended.”
In a letter, McCaskill requested the Defense Contract Audit Agency’s (DCAA) second audit into NCC. The first audit by DCAA sparked a McCaskill investigation that culminated in a bombshell report detailing the Pentagon’s systemic mismanagement of the Legacy Program, a project to provide counterinsurgency intelligence experts to mentor and train Afghan National Security Forces. The new DCAA audit looks at costs incurred by NCC for Fiscal Year 2014 through Fiscal Year 2016 under the Afghanistan Source Operations Management Program (ASOM), the successor to the Legacy Program.
Both audits were conducted in part because McCaskill had previously demanded answers from the Pentagon following an earlier audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that revealed millions of dollars in questionable costs. The Legacy Program’s primary contractor Imperatis, now insolvent, previously drew fire from McCaskill on multiple occasions, including in 2012 when a video surfaced of Imperatis personnel intoxicated in what former employees called a pattern of inappropriate behavior. In 2016, Imperatis defaulted on a major IT contract that had been awarded after McCaskill repeatedly raised concerns.
McCaskill is a leading voice in the Senate for saving taxpayer dollars through contracting reform and oversight. McCaskill waged a successful six-year effort to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contracting. Earlier this year, McCaskill called for answers after a report found rampant waste in a now-shuttered Defense Department program that obligated over $675 million to assist with Afghanistan economic projects. She also pressed the Pentagon this year when another report identified at least $536 million in questionable contracting costs in Afghanistan.
McCaskill has successfully expanded protections for whistleblowers—who help identify waste, fraud, and abuse—of government contractors, subcontractors, and others who the federal government directly or indirectly hires through bipartisan bills that have been signed into law.
Read McCaskill’s letter HERE.
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