The Pentagon has reduced the number of government officials who supervise contractors, instead hiring contractors to oversee and manage others, according to the report.

Senator Grassley said that other witnesses would detail how the agency fails to supervise private contractors, who have replaced government employees in many positions at the pension agency.

It appeals to owners with cash-flow problems who cannot afford the improvements as well as to those who do not have the time or patience to supervise contractors.

Floyd Hoffman, a retired engineer, supervised contractors doing the immediate work of reinforcing the bell tower and its structural supports.

Meanwhile, privatization had run amok, because "the ranks of public officials necessary to supervise contractors have been so thinned that the putative gains of contracting out have evaporated.

Because of a history of corruption, instability and labor monopolies, Quebec's Ministry of Labor now closely supervises unions and contractors.

Its construction in the late 1970's and early 1980's, he said, was chronically hampered by a dearth of NASA employees to supervise contractors.

In the absence of the general contractor, the railroad has been trying to supervise specialized contractors on its own.

Work stopped this month at hundreds of Superfund sites across the country because the environmental agency lacks the money to supervise and pay private contractors who do the cleanup work.

A few remain to supervise Philippine contractors who are building new roads, digging wells and doing other civil works projects.