BAGHDAD AMANAT CONTRACT SPECIALISTS TO INTERN WITH

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 003477 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRS IZ SUBJECT: BAGHDAD AMANAT CONTRACT SPECIALISTS TO INTERN WITH US MILITARY CONTRACTING AGENCY ¶1. SUMMARY: On October 19, the Baghdad Amanat signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan (JCCI/A) to have two of their contract specialists intern with JCCI/A. This signing is a result of a partnership between JCCI/A, Provincial Reconstruction Team-Baghdad (PRT),and the Baghdad Amanat (City Hall). The Baghdad Amanat is responsible for providing essential services for Baghdad City and has been executing their capital budget at a low rate. One of PRT-Baghdad's tasks is to improve the Amanat's budget execution and the level of essential services they provide. The PRT was actively seeking partners to assist in this task and selected JCCI for this project. The program will give PRT-Baghdad and JCCI/A insight into how to improve the Amanat's ability to execute contracts. These lessons may be applicable to improving budget execution in other GOI authorities as well. END SUMMARY. ¶2. JCCI/A, under the command of RDML Dussault, is responsible for ensuring all contracts for goods, construction and services that are signed by the US Military in Iraq and Afghanistan meet quality, fairness, and price standards. In Iraq there are 15 Regional Contracting Centers (RCCs). Baghdad RCC (BRCC) alone signs an average of 100 contracts a month for an average of USD 10 million. ¶3. JCCI/A has undertaken a number of initiatives that have helped the US mission in Iraq. One of these initiatives required vendors to accept Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for contract payments over USD 25,000. This action forced banks in Iraq to begin offering EFT services, which few of them were offering previously. JCCI/A has also focused its efforts on the Iraqi First Program. This program gives a preference to Iraqi vendors for goods and services if their prices are comparable to those offered by foreign vendors. This program has resulted in increased local employment, and has taught many companies how to do business with the U.S. military. JCCI/A recently began a program to set aside ten percent of contracts for women owned businesses. BRCC was the test RCC for this program, and since June 2008 has signed dozens of contracts in excess of seven million dollars. This program has recently been implemented nationwide in Iraq. ¶4. PRT Baghdad has been working to help the Amanat execute their budget more fully and efficiently, with a primary goal of helping it provide more essential services to the people of Baghdad. The PRT's engagements have led us to understand that they had difficulty with several aspects of budget execution, one of which was contracting projects. To gain a greater understanding of the contracting process, the PRT contacted Major James Clift, Director of the BRCC. These meetings led to BRCC's proposal to intern Amanat contracting specialists (KOs) with BRCC to give them an opportunity to learn about BRCC contracting procedures. The Mayor gave Mr. Akachan authority to sign the agreement for the Amanat, and on October 19, he came to BRCC to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). ¶5. The MOU includes several key components. Amanat KOs will intern in groups of two at BRCC for four three-month periods. The Amanat will incur no cost for these internships, other than paying the KOs their regular salaries. The focus of the internships will be for the KOs to learn about JCCI/A contracting procedures and best practices. ¶6. The internship program is designed to emphasize the practical aspects of the contracting process. The KOs will focus on executing ICERP projects (projects executed by the USG for the benefit of the Iraqi government using Iraqi money). They will also work on USG projects for the benefit of the Amanat. ¶7. The MOU is designed to advance PRT Baghdad and JCCI/A efforts to help the GOI execute their budget in a more timely and efficient manner. Further, this partnership will allow both agencies to help the Amanat while minimizing use of resources. CROCKER