Audit of USAID/Afghanistan's Power Sector Activities Under Its Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program

USAID/Afghanistan require that its training on statement-of-work preparation be provided to all new contracting officer's technical representatives.

USAID/Afghanistan develop procedures, such as the use of quality control checklists, to ensure that statements of work include such critical elements as clear deliverables with specified due dates.

USAID/Afghanistan establish procedures requiring that a labor skills assessment be performed by a contractor, either upon award of a construction contract or upon the award of a task order under the contract. The assessment would include, as appropriate but not limited to, the availability of qualified local labor, vocational training needed to cultivate local labor, and plans to coordinate with the mission to obtain appropriate visas for non-Afghan labor.

USAID/Afghanistan establish written procedures to ensure that all significant construction projects have onsite quality assurance engineers.

The mission develop an overall implementation plan for the Kabul power plant project that incorporates updated construction schedules for the contractor and subcontractor, identifies delays in critical tasks, and establishes steps to keep the project on track.

USAID/Afghanistan develop a comprehensive sustainability plan that includes considerations for anticipated fuel purchases as well as the impact and timing of future mission projects affecting the 105-megawatt plant.

USAID/Afghanistan prepare a detailed implementation plan that documents the current status of the Kajakai project and explains how the mission intends to proceed with installation of turbine 2, including potential barriers to successful installation of the turbine and contingency plans to overcome these barriers.

USAID/Afghanistan recover at least $2.1 million (including interest imputed through May 13, 2009) from the contractor.