Bravo to Xe and to all the hard working contractors out in the field that made this happen. It’s all about customer service and satisfaction, and applying Kaizen to all of your operations. If anything, the main things that the report hit on, was that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security just needs to continue insuring the company is being honest and providing a good service. That to me shows that State wants to implement more quality control features into the process and they care about the services. That is good.
Like with building homes, you need to watch what the contractors are doing during the build process, and insure it is the product and service you asked for and paid for. That’s if you care about how your money was spent, or the quality of your home. It also let’s the contractors know that you actually care and are watching what they are doing.
This isn’t rocket science, and this is purely a matter of demanding a quality product or service because you want the best value for the money spent. Government should be totally focused on that, because in this case, the service given, impacts DoS and the population’s lives in a war zone, the reputation and prominence of the DoS and US mission in Afghanistan, and the tax payer’s wallet. –Matt
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“In 2008, USTC conducted 2,730 personal protection missions in support of staff from the Department of State, including the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, USAID, and various Congressional delegations (see Table). In 2008, 257 (9.4 percent) of the missions were performed for USAID. During the entire time USTC has operated in Afghanistan, no one under USTC’s protection has been injured or killed, and there have been no incidents involving the use of deadly force. OIG observed personal protection missions and interviewed various representatives from the Department of State and USAID who regularly use USTC’s personal protective services. The representatives reported that USTC employees are professional, make them feel secure, and are respectful to both officials under chief of mission authority and their Afghan counterparts.”- Inspector General’s Office of DoS, recent performance audit for protective services for August 2009.
And………
“I would like to pay special tribute to the brave and hard working personnel, RSOs and ARSOs, who have protected me and my missions in dangerous times. I would also like to acknowledge my respect for the men of DynCorp and Blackwater who ran my personal protection details in Iraq and Afghanistan. They performed with courage, judgment and restraint and one lost his leg in the process. Whatever opprobrium now attaches to others I owe all those gallant men—State Department and contractor employees–my gratitude and I am glad to have a public forum in which to express it.”-Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, the former Ambassador to Afghanistan (2005-2007) had this to say at a congressional hearing.