Acquisitions In Afghanistan A Unique Challenge

European Stars and Stripes | June 28, 2002 | Joseph Giordono

[Stand Watch Listen]

KABUL, Afghanistan — Capt. Rick Baynes has by far the oddest shopping list in Afghanistan.

On a single sweaty day in the teeming markets of Kabul, the Army contracting officer will try to procure the following items requested by American units at Bagram: a leather pistol holster; 100 feet of electrical wiring; hair-clipper oil; two dozen 20-foot ladders; 40 chains and 40 winches; 100 printer cartridges; magnetic signs; red, white and blue plastic plates and napkins.

Remarkably, he will find — or find someone who can make — everything on the list. Except for the plates and napkins, which one unit requested for a Fourth of July celebration.

"You name it, they’ve asked for it. Whatever they forget to bring, whatever they realized they shouldn’t have left home, they’ve asked me to get it," said Baynes, an animated man sporting a black leather vest and a red handlebar mustache.

Though each unit deployed to Afghanistan has a licensed contracting agent who is authorized to make purchases of up to $2,500, the task has largely fallen to Baynes, who is a natural fit for the job. He goes to Kabul every day of the week except Friday, the Muslim day of rest.

"I really do enjoy this. If I didn’t miss my wife and kid back home, I’d stay here for another year," he said. "I really think I have the best job in Bagram."

Units can order supplies from the United States, but delivery takes more than six weeks. Instead, they can try to get materials on the local economy.

On this particular day, Baynes’ first stop is an electrical shop. With his interpreter, Amiri, Baynes manages to ask the Afghan proprietor about the different gauges and lengths of electrical cable available.

The owner of the shop, a skinny man in his late 20s with a wispy mustache and the beginnings of a beard, smiles and produces several rolls of wiring that might work. Baynes cuts a sample from each one, asking the prices.

At one point, the Afghan owner steals a peek at the list Baynes is carrying in a manila folder; that piece of paper includes the prices his customers at Bagram are willing to pay. Suddenly, the price for a 100-foot length of wire becomes $30.

With a loud laugh, Baynes catches on.

"Get outta here, you’re looking at my paper! You saw the numbers on my list, didn’t you?" he teased the man, as he changes the $30 figure to $15 with his pen.

No interpreter is needed to explain the situation, and both men shake hands and part laughing. Baynes will bring the sample to the engineering unit that has requested the wiring, and will return the next day to place an order.

Baynes and his team travel in unmarked pickup trucks, sporting civilian clothes and concealed weapons. For a while, he wore a full beard — not so much trying to blend in ("They’re gonna spot the white guy with the red hair"), but trying to respect local culture and business practices.

Like every mission in Afghanistan, this one includes an operational aspect. Baynes and the other contractors say their regular contact with local merchants can help turn up important information.

"Sometimes, directly or indirectly, they’ll give us some good intel. They’ll tell you what’s going on in town, when something might happen and when it might not be a good day to be in Kabul."

But U.S. officials acknowledge that the money they are pouring into the local economy can have a negative impact. The lure of American dollars has turned existing business rivalries into full-fledged battles.

In one instance earlier this month, a dispute over petroleum deliveries led to one group bombing two fuel trucks belonging to a rival business faction. Both groups were competing to provide fuel to coalition forces at Kandahar.

"I know that the warlords control the business around here to some extent," said Lt. Col. Patricia Maness, of the contracting command at Bagram.

"I have tried to put the word out and make clear that we understand how things work here and that we are not going to play those games. The biggest challenge about setting this up was getting the word out diplomatically."

The contracting command is made up of specialists from several different bases in Central Command. Baynes is from Fort Bragg, N.C; Maness is from Fort McPherson, Ga.

Each of the contractors has a desk copy of the Federal Requisition Regulations manual, a 3-inch-thick reminder of the bureaucracy that must be satisfied.

Baynes said that early in the war supply effort, American contractors would end up going to the same merchants over and over. He saw the same thing during a recent deployment to Kosovo.

"We try to get away from going to the same vendors every time," he said. "It’s not always about getting the lowest price. It’s about spreading it around. I saw it all the time in Kosovo. There were a couple of gravel vendors that we made rich men."

In the end, Baynes said, it’s about building relationships.

"Sometimes you’ll spend an hour in a place negotiating and walk out empty-handed," he said. "They have to take a lot on good faith. They have to take my word that when they get whatever it is I ask them to get, I’ll show up the next day with the money."