Washington ? The Army is ordering a major overhaul of the way it buys supplies for troops in combat zones as the number of criminal investigations into wartime contract fraud nears triple figures.

Chief among the moves is the formation of a new contracting command to better manage military purchasing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, according to a memo written by Army Secretary Pete Geren and obtained by The Associated Press.

To be run by generals, the post will control an enterprise stained by scandal and long unappreciated by other sectors of the Army.

Geren’s one-page memo, dated Jan. 30, directs the Army’s existing contracting agency to be replaced by the new command, which is being designed to have broad authority over the acquisition of items ranging from bottled water to bullets.

The Army Contracting Command will be headed initially by Jeffrey Parsons, a civilian official, an appointment that underscores how few senior Army officers there are with extensive credentials in defense contracting.

The position eventually will be filled by a two-star general who will have two one-star generals as deputies.

One deputy will oversee contracting for “expeditionary” forces, which are the troops mobilized for action. The goal is to exercise more control over contracts awarded in places such as Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Arifjan is a major gateway for U.S. troops as they move in and out of Iraq. Annual spending there has ballooned from $150 million before the start of the war to roughly $1 billion, and along with the increases have come dozens of ongoing fraud cases.

The second deputy will support contracting done by Army bases in the United States and overseas.

Parsons, a retired Air Force colonel, is director of contracting for the Army Materiel Command at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Parsons and acting Army Undersecretary Nelson Ford were scheduled to announce today the steps the Army is taking to improve its purchasing operations.

The Army also plans to hire 1,400 additional contracting personnel in an effort to expand a work force that was too small and poorly prepared to deal with the heavy demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The extra 400 military and 1,000 civilians will represent about a 25 percent increase.