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Introduction
You are assigned as a contract/fiscal law attorney in Afghanistan and you are handed a file to review marked "LOGCAP." You are told that this is merely a project validation, and not a final contract-no prices have yet been finalized. What information is necessary for you to complete a review of this file? This article will help you understand the LOGCAP validation process and the role of the legal advisor in that process.
LOGCAP validation results in U.S. military commanders committing funds for LOGCAP requirements. Commanders are entrusted with funds to pay for LOGCAP projects and have the statutory and regulatory duty to "[l]imit the obligation and expenditure of funds provided to the amount currently available at the time of the obligation or expenditure, enforce those limitations, and ensure that all personnel involved in administrative control and use of available funds are knowledgeable of such limitations."1 Commanders must also "[r]igorously enforce compliance with all the provisions of the Antideficiency Act (ADA) and other specific laws that limit the obligation and expenditure of funds."2 Commanders look to their judge advocates for independent legal advice, including on the legality of funding LOGCAP projects.3
LOGCAP uses rapid contracting authorities to undertake projects within fifteen days from the approval of the requirement by the task force commander.4 The speed of the process is "underpinned by the assumption that, for critical and dynamic wartime logistics requirements, there is not sufficient time to wait for a full proposal that can be analyzed and negotiated prior to the commencement of work."5 Importantly, "rapid contracting authorities" allow for large LOGCAP projects to be started quickly, but proposals for such projects must still contain significant information before commanders and their staffs can validate them.
As will be explained in this paper, commanders and their staffs need answers to a series of questions and unredacted, detailed price estimates in order to validate LOGCAP projects. This information is necessary to ensure that LOGCAP projects conform to traditional fiscal law standards of purpose, time, and amount.6 Rapid contracting authorities do not allow government officials to bypass congressional fiscal limitations on contracting. According to the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the General Counsel, "contracts for obtaining logistics and engineering services and supplies under LOGCAP are...