Records relating to keyword "GAO"

  • GAO report on key 'benchmarks' for Iraqi government Sep 2007 (04 Sept 2007)

    Keywords: GAO Security Economic development Legal

    Public Law 110-28 contains 18 benchmarks for the Government of Iraq to meet by 1 September 2007. As of 30 August 2007, the GAO assessed that the Iraqi government met 3, partially met 4, and did not meet 11 of its 18 benchmarks.

    Benchmarks met:

    • the rights of minority political parties in Iraq's legislature are protected.
    • Iraq's government has established various committees in support of the Baghdad security plan
    • almost all of the planned Joint Security Stations in Baghdad have been established

    Benchmarks partially met:

    • Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions (law passed but not yet implemented)
    • Providing three trained and ready brigades to support Baghdad operations.
    • eliminating safe havens for "outlaws"
    • Equitable allocation and spending of $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects and essential services
  • GAO report: Coalition Support and International Donor Commitments (May 2007) (09 May 2007)

    Keywords: Loans International donors GAO Reconstruction Debt

    US Government Accountability Office statement on foreign troop levels and international donor commitments to Iraq's reconstruction.

    On the latter, it found that:

    • As of April 2007, international donors had pledged about $14.9 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Some countries exceeded their pledges by an additional $744 million for a total of $15.6 billion.

    • About $11 billion, or 70 percent, of these pledges are loans (mainly from the IMF, World Bank, Japan and Iran), with the remaining $4.6 billion in the form of grants.

    • As of April 2007, Iraq had accessed only about $436 million in loans from the IMF, and had received $3 billion in grants, suggesting considerable wariness on the part of the Iraqi government to contract new debt: "according to the State Department, the Iraqis lack a system for approving projects supported by donor loans, which has impeded efforts by the World Bank and Japan to initiate loan-based projects."

    • According to IMF reporting as of February 2007, Iraq has received about $39 billion in debt reduction from commercial and bilateral creditors.

    • The UK has provided bilateral grants to Iraq totalling $775 million (i.e. outside the projects funded by UN and World Bank trust funds for Iraq)

  • GAO Testimony: Factors Impeding the Development of Capable Iraqi Security Forces (13 March 2007)

    Keywords: Military Security GAO

    GAO congressional testimony:

    • Reports that "as of February 2007, DOD reported that it had trained and equipped 327,000 Iraqi security forces—a substantial increase from the 142,000 reported in March 2005...[and] double that of the 153,000-strong U.S.-led coalition currently in Iraq.

    • Notes that it is currently impossible for Congress to gauge the readiness of Iraq's security forces since the DOD refuses to release its Transition Readiness Assessments. In addition, "[t]he [Iraqi] Ministry of the Interior does not maintain standardized reports on personnel strength. As a result, DOD does not know how many coalition-trained police the ministry still employs or what percentage of the 180,000 police thought to be on the payroll are coalition trained and equipped.

    • Also notes that Iraqi units remain dependent upon US-led international forces for their logistical, command and control, including fuel and ammunition, as well as intelligence capabilities.

  • Overview of GAO Findings and Methodology on Iraq (18 Jan 2007)

    Keywords: Security Reconstruction GAO

    This brief document summarises a number of key GAO reports on Iraq since 2003. Also interestingly states that the GAO plans to establish a presence in Iraq from March 2007 (subject to Congress granting them the money).

  • New GAO testimony on 'Rebuilding Iraq', 28 Sept 2006 (26 Sept 2006)

    Keywords: Economic Reconstruction GAO Water Infrastructure Oil Electricity

    New congressional testimony by the US federal oversight body, the Government Accountability Office, on the progress of US-funded reconstruction efforts. Reports that (as of August 2006):

    • crude oil production is lower than pre-war levels (2.4 million barrels per day (mbpd), compared to the prewar level of 2.6 mbpd)
    • electricity generation was at 4,855 megawatts, above the prewar level of 4,300 megawatts, but below the US goal of 6,000 megawatts.
    • treated water delivery stands at 1.44 million cubic meters per day, compared to the U.S. goal of 2.4 million cubic meters.

    Violence and conflict is blamed for much of this shortfall. But within this uncertain context the GAO found that the US Department of Defense risked inflating the costs and delays of reconstruction further by

    • awarding some reconstruction contracts without defining "the work to be performed and its projected costs"
    • lacking the necessary personnel to administrate contracts
    • circumventing competition rules on awarding contracts by simply adding new, unrelated work to existing contracts (for instance, contracting for translators under an environmental services contract)