Here We Go Again

By Robert Brodsky

It looks like business is about to pick up on the oversight front at the Defense Contract Audit Agency. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the beleaguered agency on September 23 asking the relatively simple question: who is responsible for reform at DCAA?

Few details are yet known about the hearing but expect the release of a follow-up report on DCAA auditory concerns by the Government Accountability Office and possibly a report by the Defense Department Inspector General on reports of retaliation against whistleblowers and harassment of agency auditors.

Government Executive reported exclusively last month that the GAO had found widespread deficiencies in audits conducted by the DCAA. Investigators examined 37 audit reports issued between 2004 and 2006 and found problems with every single audit.

Expect DCAA critics to cite the report as further proof that the agency is in disarray and that management needs to be replaced. And, expect DCAA leadership to cite the timeline for the GAO investigation--which date back almost six years--and how the agency has made most of its major reforms in the past year.

The recent findings are reminiscent of a July 2008 GAO report , which sparked the first contentious hearing last September of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee . Don't be surprised to see fireworks again.