Photo courtesy of U.S. Army

The Commission on Wartime Contracting released its final report to Congress on Wednesday.  An Associated Press article citing the report, said much of the waste could have been avoided with “better planning and more aggressive oversight.”

According to CNN, the commission looked at contracts from 2001 through 2011.  The report was a culmination of three years of work by the commission.

Commission member Katherine Schinasi spoke about the panel findings at a news conference Wednesday.  Schinasi said the waste amounts to roughly $12 million a day.

Panel members said it was hard to determine the exact amount of money wasted but they believe at least $31 billion has been lost and called it a conservative figure.

The eight-member panel also passed along 15 recommendations to Congress including hiring more auditors and analysts.  

The complete 240-page report can be viewed here.