The U.S. Agency for International Development does not have enough experienced personnel in Afghanistan to ensure the contracts and grants it funds are achieving results, a panel of contractors told key Senate Democrats on Tuesday.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., questioned why contractors and grant recipients are not more successful in educating women, building roads, generating electricity and converting agriculture away from drug-producing poppies — given the nearly $10 billion USAID has invested in the country since 2002. McCaskill chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on contracting oversight.

James Boomgard, president and CEO of Development Alternatives Inc., a Maryland-based company working on agricultural development in Afghanistan, said the problems are due partly to the fact that USAID "has been … decapitalized over the past 10 years in terms of their expertise and talent."

Boomgard said USAID has sent newly hired staff to the region who lack experience and do not understand the limitations of the environment they're working in. As a result, "everyone is trying to reach unrealistic expectations."

In the early years of the war, "There was nobody there … saying ‘Time out, what are we really trying to accomplish here and what are the right sort of markers we need?' " he said. Things have improved since the start of the Obama administration, but more needs to be done, he said.

Because USAID officials are co-located at facilities with Defense Department and State Department officials, they have to abide by the other departments' rules regarding where civilian federal employees can go, said Richard Dreiman, president and CEO of Chemonics International Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based agricultural development firm.

Many USAID officials are frustrated that, because of security concerns, they can't get off the compound more often to meet with contractors, said Larry Walker, president of the Louis Berger Group, a New Jersey-based civil, environmental, energy and natural resource engineering firm. In place of onsite visits, there are more e-mails and reports from contractors in the field to USAID officials hunkered down on bases and embassy compounds, Boomgard said.

In addition, USAID personnel move through Afghanistan more frequently than they do in other nations, said Dreiman. In most places, USAID personnel are in place for four years, allowing time to develop relationships with contractors and providing management continuity, he said. In Afghanistan, both government and contractor personnel move through more quickly, he said. McCaskill said she plans to raise these concerns with USAID officials when she visits Afghanistan in the coming months.