Contractors on the Battlefield: When and How? Using the US Military Risk Management Framework to Learn from the Balkans Support Contract
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Authors
Greenfield, Victoria A.
Camm, Frank
Subjects
Contracting on the Battlefield
Army''s Balkans Support Contract (BSC), Contractors on the Battlefield
Army''s Balkans Support Contract (BSC), Contractors on the Battlefield
Advisors
Date of Issue
2007-04-01
Date
01-Apr-07
Publisher
Language
Abstract
For centuries, the US military has wrestled with decisions about when and how to use private contractors, especially ''Contractors on the Battlefield.'' Reports of mixed performance, inexperienced contracting officers, miscommunication, and profiteering date back to the Revolutionary War. History may be ''living history,'' in part, because decision-makers have lacked adequate means of systematically anticipating future outcomes and harvesting lessons from the past. The US military''s risk-management framework, a familiar tool in other operational settings, may fill that void. To illustrate, this paper applies the framework to the Army''s Balkans Support Contract (BSC); the contract covers a variety of life support, transportation, and maintenance services and has registered a substantial track record in deployment. The application demonstrates the utility of the risk-management framework and draws general lessons from the BSC experience for selecting service providers and for contract development, management, and oversight. Four deceptively simple lessons emerge from the analysis: first, not all risks are inherently contractual; most are environmental or activity-based. Second, risk is dynamic; appropriate responses change over time. Third, a contract is only as good as its customer; design and execution determine outcomes. And fourth, risk management is not risk elimination; not all risk can or should be eliminated.
Type
Report
Description
Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program)
Series/Report No
Department
Acquisition Management
Other Research Faculty
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
NPS-AM-07-013
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.