Army To Restructure Contracting The Army is creating a new Contracting Command, headed by a two-star general, and will hire 1,400 more acquisition workers. Army officials said they are adopting many recommendations of an independent commission headed by Jacques Gansler, former undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. The commission recommended an overhaul of Army contracting organizations after widespread accusations of fraud and mismanagement in the Iraq-Afghanistan theater. (SAA, 11/9) Testifying Dec. 6 before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness and management support. Assistant Army Secretary Claude Bolton Jr. said, “The U.S. Army has never fought an extended conflict that required such reliance on contractor support. We are currently addressing the need to expand, train, structure and empower our contracting personnel to support a full range of military operations.” Bolton, who plans to resign next month, said 400 additional military personnel and 1,000 civilians will be added to the acquisition workforce. But he said it will take two or three years to hire all of them and even longer to fully train them, Federal Times reported. The Gansler commission described Army contracting personnel as “understaffed, overworked, under-trained, under-supported and, most important, under-valued.” The commission said there was not a single general assigned to the Army’s acquisition organizations. Since opportunities for promotion to the highest ranks are limited, it said, acquisition is not a popular career path for officers. Bolton said the new Army Contracting Command will be headed by a two-star general with two one-stars as deputies. It will be established under the Army Materiel Command. Bolton said there are 80 ongoing criminal investigations of contract actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. The Army has begun a wide-ranging review of contracts awarded by its Kuwait installation, where several cases of bribery have been documented.