On Aug. 31, the Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC) released its final report to Congress, detailing contracting issues in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although most media outlets focused on the sensational estimates of funds lost through waste and fraud over the course of the wars – possibly totaling $60 billion – the report makes a much broader and compelling argument for systemic contracting reforms and better contractor oversight. With the current atmosphere of austerity on Capitol Hill, Congress should heed these recommendations.

On July 22, the House passed an appropriations bill that makes deep cuts and policy changes to the Government Printing Office (GPO), an agency that plays an important role in current information dissemination for all three branches of the federal government. The bill raises troubling questions about Congress's understanding of and commitment to GPO’s primary responsibility for making public documents available to the American people.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and the branches of the armed forces utilize hundreds of thousands of contractors to perform a multitude of support functions each year. This includes everything from management and information technology (IT) support to intelligence work and weapons maintenance. Until 2008, neither the Pentagon nor the military branches knew exactly how many contractors they employed, nor were they required to find out. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report sheds some light on the Pentagon's congressionally mandated efforts to tally its contractors, along with whether DOD is using the information to make better personnel decisions.