DOD Task Force for Business and Stability Operations: Actions Needed to Establish Project Management Guidelines and Enhance Information Sharing

Abstract : The Departments of Defense (DoD) and State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and others are involved in economic development activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. In June 2006, DoD established the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (Task Force) to support its related efforts. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2011 required that DoD, State, and USAID jointly develop a plan to transition Task Force activities to State, with a focus on potentially transitioning activities to USAID. Under the authority of the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct work on his own initiative and with additional congressional direction, GAO identified the following: (1) factors to consider in planning any transition of Task Force activities, and (2) the extent to which the Task Force established guidance to manage its activities and has shared information with other federal agencies. GAO analyzed documents and interviewed multiple agency officials in Washington, DC, Iraq, and Afghanistan. GAO recommends that the Task Force develop written project management guidance and that DoD, State, and USAID develop an approach to integrate the Task Force into information-sharing mechanisms. DoD partially concurred with the first recommendation. The three agencies generally concurred with the second.