Nancy F Campbell

This study examines contingency purchases made in theater to support U.S. Air Force activities during Operation Iraqi Freedom in fiscal years 2003 and 2004. It develops a custom database to determine the types of goods and services purchased and illustrates how such data can be used to facilitate planning and policy decisions associated with future CCO staffing and training, combat support, and sharing of lessons within the theater.

For the past several years, the U.S. Air Force has been using data from the Individual Contracting Action Report form, also known as the DD350, to analyze its goods and services expenditures. For this study, the authors collected data from Air Force contracting officers on a sample of fiscal year 2002 (FY02) DD350 records to assess the adequacy and accuracy of DD350 data for conducting expenditure analyses. The authors then extrapolated their findings from the sample to reflect all Air Force FY02 DD350 contract actions.