<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?><InstanceReport xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><Version>2.4.0.8</Version><ReportLongName>108 - Disclosure - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES</ReportLongName><DisplayLabelColumn>true</DisplayLabelColumn><ShowElementNames>false</ShowElementNames><RoundingOption /><HasEmbeddedReports>false</HasEmbeddedReports><Columns><Column FlagID="0"><Id>1</Id><IsAbstractGroupTitle>false</IsAbstractGroupTitle><LabelSeparator>

</LabelSeparator><CurrencyCode /><FootnoteIndexer /><hasSegments>false</hasSegments><hasScenarios>false</hasScenarios><MCU><KeyName /><CurrencySymbol /><contextRef><ContextID>from-2013-01-01-to-2013-06-30.2486.0.0.0.0.0.0.0</ContextID><EntitySchema>http://www.sec.gov/CIK</EntitySchema><EntityValue>0001085254</EntityValue><PeriodDisplayName /><PeriodType>duration</PeriodType><PeriodStartDate>2013-01-01T00:00:00</PeriodStartDate><PeriodEndDate>2013-06-30T00:00:00</PeriodEndDate><Segments /><Scenarios /></contextRef><UPS /><CurrencyCode /><OriginalCurrencyCode /></MCU><CurrencySymbol /><Labels><Label Key="CalendarSupplement" Id="0" Label="6 Months Ended" /><Label Key="Calendar" Id="1" Label="Jun. 30, 2013" /></Labels></Column></Columns><Rows><Row FlagID="0"><Id>1</Id><IsAbstractGroupTitle>true</IsAbstractGroupTitle><LabelSeparator>

</LabelSeparator><Level>1</Level><ElementName>us-gaap_CommitmentsAndContingenciesDisclosureAbstract</ElementName><ElementPrefix>us-gaap_</ElementPrefix><IsBaseElement>true</IsBaseElement><BalanceType>na</BalanceType><PeriodType>duration</PeriodType><IsReportTitle>false</IsReportTitle><IsSegmentTitle>false</IsSegmentTitle><IsCalendarTitle>false</IsCalendarTitle><IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow>false</IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow><IsEquityAdjustmentRow>false</IsEquityAdjustmentRow><IsBeginningBalance>false</IsBeginningBalance><IsEndingBalance>false</IsEndingBalance><IsReverseSign>false</IsReverseSign><FootnoteIndexer /><Cells><Cell FlagID="0" ContextID="" UnitID=""><Id>1</Id><IsNumeric>false</IsNumeric><IsRatio>false</IsRatio><DisplayZeroAsNone>false</DisplayZeroAsNone><NumericAmount>0</NumericAmount><RoundedNumericAmount>0</RoundedNumericAmount><NonNumbericText /><FootnoteIndexer /><CurrencyCode /><CurrencySymbol /><IsIndependantCurrency>false</IsIndependantCurrency><ShowCurrencySymbol>false</ShowCurrencySymbol><DisplayDateInUSFormat>false</DisplayDateInUSFormat></Cell></Cells><ElementDataType>xbrli:stringItemType</ElementDataType><SimpleDataType>string</SimpleDataType><IsTotalLabel>false</IsTotalLabel><UnitID>0</UnitID><Label>COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES [Abstract]</Label></Row><Row FlagID="0"><Id>2</Id><IsAbstractGroupTitle>false</IsAbstractGroupTitle><LabelSeparator>

</LabelSeparator><Level>2</Level><ElementName>us-gaap_CommitmentsAndContingenciesDisclosureTextBlock</ElementName><ElementPrefix>us-gaap_</ElementPrefix><IsBaseElement>true</IsBaseElement><BalanceType>na</BalanceType><PeriodType>duration</PeriodType><IsReportTitle>false</IsReportTitle><IsSegmentTitle>false</IsSegmentTitle><IsCalendarTitle>false</IsCalendarTitle><IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow>false</IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow><IsEquityAdjustmentRow>false</IsEquityAdjustmentRow><IsBeginningBalance>false</IsBeginningBalance><IsEndingBalance>false</IsEndingBalance><IsReverseSign>false</IsReverseSign><PreferredLabelRole>terseLabel</PreferredLabelRole><FootnoteIndexer /><Cells><Cell FlagID="0" ContextID="from-2013-01-01-to-2013-06-30.2486.0.0.0.0.0.0.0" UnitID=""><Id>1</Id><IsNumeric>false</IsNumeric><IsRatio>false</IsRatio><DisplayZeroAsNone>false</DisplayZeroAsNone><NumericAmount>0</NumericAmount><RoundedNumericAmount>0</RoundedNumericAmount><NonNumbericText>&lt;!--DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd" --&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;div style="WIDTH: 624px"&gt;&lt;!--StartFragment--&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NOTE 8 - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;From time to time, HII may be subject to routine litigation, claims, or disputes in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of management; no pending or known threatened claims, actions or proceedings against HII are expected to have a material adverse effect on HII&amp;#39;s consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;HII cannot predict with certainty, however, the outcome or effect of any of the litigation or investigatory matters specifically described above or any other pending litigation or claims. There can be no assurance as to the ultimate outcome of any lawsuits and investigations.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;The Company has entered into various operating leases for office and storage facilities for terms ranging from month to month to six months. &amp;nbsp;Rent expense for the six months ended June 30, 2013 for these leases amounted to $28,155. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;On December 7, 2012, as amended on July 19, 2013, the Company&amp;#39;s subsidiary, STP, entered into a strategic alliance agreement with PRC for an operating lease of equipment. &amp;nbsp;Under the agreement, PRC agreed to fund the purchase of generators, light towers and related equipment for STP&amp;#39;s rental fleet. &amp;nbsp;Under the agreement, STP&amp;#39;s monthly lease payment to PRC is calculated as 50% of monthly rental revenue earned on the leased PRC equipment. &amp;nbsp;The lease effectively started in January 2013, and in January 2013 the Company issued 350,000 shares of common stock as a deposit for future lease payments (see Note 5 above). &amp;nbsp;In addition, the lease contained a provision for a minimum of $10,000 in payments per month for the first 3 months, which was paid by the Company. &amp;nbsp;During the six months ended June 30, 2013, STP recognized $59,710 in lease expense.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0px"&gt;In January 2013, the Company entered into a master lease agreement with Enterprise Leasing Company which is being accounted for as an operating lease. &amp;nbsp;As of June 30, 2013 the Company leases 24 vehicles and two trailers under this master lease with monthly lease payments totaling approximately $25,215. &amp;nbsp;7 of the leased vehicles resulted from a sale/leaseback transaction with Enterprise in January 2013 where Enterprise purchased 7 vehicles from the Company for $87,375 resulting in a net loss of $11,773.&amp;nbsp; $2,133 of the loss was recognized immediately and the remainder is being amortized over the life of each respective lease.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;!--EndFragment--&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;</NonNumbericText><FootnoteIndexer /><CurrencyCode /><CurrencySymbol /><IsIndependantCurrency>false</IsIndependantCurrency><ShowCurrencySymbol>false</ShowCurrencySymbol><DisplayDateInUSFormat>false</DisplayDateInUSFormat></Cell></Cells><ElementDataType>nonnum:textBlockItemType</ElementDataType><SimpleDataType>na</SimpleDataType><ElementDefenition>The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies.</ElementDefenition><ElementReferences>Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

 -Publisher FASB

 -Name Accounting Standards Codification

 -Topic 210

 -SubTopic 10

 -Section S99

 -Paragraph 1

 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.25)

 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&amp;oid=6877327&amp;loc=d3e13212-122682



Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

 -Publisher FASB

 -Name Accounting Standards Codification

 -Topic 825

 -SubTopic 20

 -Section 50

 -Paragraph 1

 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&amp;oid=6449706&amp;loc=d3e16207-108621



Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

 -Publisher FASB

 -Name Accounting Standards Codification

 -Topic 460

 -SubTopic 10

 -Section 50

 -Paragraph 8

 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&amp;oid=6398077&amp;loc=d3e12565-110249



Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

 -Publisher FASB

 -Name Accounting Standards Codification

 -Topic 450

 -SubTopic 20

 -Section 50

 -Paragraph 4

 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&amp;oid=25496072&amp;loc=d3e14435-108349



Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

 -Publisher FASB

 -Name Accounting Standards Codification

 -Topic 440

 -SubTopic 10

 -Section 50

 -Paragraph 2

 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&amp;oid=6394976&amp;loc=d3e25287-109308



</ElementReferences><IsTotalLabel>false</IsTotalLabel><UnitID>0</UnitID><Label>COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES</Label></Row></Rows><Footnotes /><IsEquityReport>false</IsEquityReport><ReportName>COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES</ReportName><MonetaryRoundingLevel>UnKnown</MonetaryRoundingLevel><SharesRoundingLevel>UnKnown</SharesRoundingLevel><PerShareRoundingLevel>UnKnown</PerShareRoundingLevel><ExchangeRateRoundingLevel>UnKnown</ExchangeRateRoundingLevel><HasCustomUnits>true</HasCustomUnits><IsEmbedReport>false</IsEmbedReport><IsMultiCurrency>false</IsMultiCurrency><ReportType>Sheet</ReportType><RoleURI>http://www.hiitinc.com/role/CommitmentsAndContingencies</RoleURI><NumberOfCols>1</NumberOfCols><NumberOfRows>2</NumberOfRows></InstanceReport>
