Fort Belvoir, Va. –
From February 1961 to May 1975, more than 3.4 million Americans served in support of U.S. military operations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. More than 58,000 gave their lives during the Vietnam War and 1,573 service members remain unaccounted for according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. On March 29, 1973, the last combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam returned home on U.S. soil. The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act was signed into law in 2017, with March 29 marking the National Vietnam War Veterans Day. On National Vietnam War Veterans Day, DCAA is proud to honor and remember our Vietnam veterans for their sense of duty, unwavering devotion and courageous willingness to put their country first. The DoD emphasizes the importance to remember and celebrate the courage and sacrifices these Veterans made for their country.
In support of the DoD’s objectives at the time, DCAA helped organize a government contract auditing course for Republic of Vietnam auditors in 1973. At the conclusion of the war, a basic two-week course was created in collaboration with the Defense Contract Audit Institute. The training included four main topics: 1. The procurement process and the auditor’s role. 2. The responsibility of the contract auditor. 3. Incurred costs audits. 4. Proposal reviews. An additional two-week course was created with a focus on internal auditing.
In 1973, four DCAA representatives presented the training to 72 auditors through two concurrent classes in Ho Chi Minh City. A second class was conducted by two DCAA representatives to 42 auditors in early 1974. While most attendees spoke or understood some English, DCAA collaborated with military officers from a local language school and with local national civilian auditors to translate the presentations.
This initial training was the beginning of DCAA auditors’ support to the military in or near combat zones. Auditors have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq to ensure wartime contract support is performed in accordance with regulations and scarce resources are not lost to fraud, waste and abuse.