Commander's Emergency Response Program: Hotel Construction Completed, But Project Management Issues Remain

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has issued five reports on the management controls and accountability of Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) funds. This report focuses on the outcomes, cost, and oversight of one of the larger CERP projects: a $4.2 million project awarded to TAMA Design Consulting and Construction that provides international travelers and the public with hotel accommodations near the Baghdad Airport -- the Baghdad International Airport Caravan Hotel. SIGIR's reporting objectives for this audit are to examine: (1) contract outcome, cost, and schedule; (2) project justification and compliance with CERP guidelines; (3) contract oversight; (4) coordination of the project among U.S. Government agencies and with the Government of Iraq (GOI); and (5) transfer of the project to the GOI. SIGIR recommends that the Commanding General, Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) take actions to do the following: (1) update CERP guidelines to reflect new policies and procedures requiring electronic fund transfers; (2) conduct a legal review of the hotel construction contract and the current hotel management contract to confirm that relevant legal authorities supporting major actions and decisions have been identified and are fully documented; (3) review the contract issues identified in this report, including contract award, payments, construction delays, and record keeping processes; and (4) develop a plan for turning the project over to the GOI. SIGIR received written comments from the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). Their recommendations were directed to MNC-I, a subordinate command of MNF-I. MNF-I concurred with the report's recommendations and provided additional comments. MNF-I stated that MNC-I is currently working on a plan to turn the Caravan Hotel over to the GOI.