Washington, DC – Today Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder(D-AR) and Ranking Member Rob Wittman (R-VA) released the following statement after a subcommittee hearing to conduct oversight of legislation from the FY08 National Defense Authorization Act requiring DOD, the Department of State and USAID to sign a Memorandum of Understanding regulating contracting matters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Across the government, we all need to be involved in supporting increased contract management and oversight because this directly and constantly affects the men and women we send into harm’s way,” Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder (D-AR) said.  “Our witnesses today told us that SPOT has to crawl and walk before it can run.  I really appreciate all our witnesses joining us, and I thank them for their commitment to making this work.  I also look forward to returning to this topic in several months, when I’m certain we will see even more improvements. 
“This isn’t just about a  data base, it’s an example of how various Departments must come together in creating interagency solutions to practical but life and death matters.”

“Today’s hearing was about the next step.  Namely, integrating and coordinating the efforts of all elements of the federal government to ensure unity of effort in a contingency operation.  While a seamless, efficient federal effort is a laudable goal, we should recognize that this standard will be difficult to reach,” commented Subcommittee Ranking Member Rob Wittman (R-VA).  “We are not close to solving interagency coordination here in peacetime Washington, DC—a far easier challenge than figuring it out under fire in a sovereign foreign nation.”   

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