Cutting Into the Pentagon Budget to Cut Out Waste

Congress is going to target "waste and inefficiency"... but probably not any earmarks in their districts. Never mind that one of the most wasteful inefficiencies is the process of having capital programs spread across 38 states to ensure the maximum number of Congressional votes for them.

Among the provisions, it requires the Pentagon to set up standards to measure performance and hold everyone accountable, takes steps to make sure units get what they need when equipment is purchased and requires that the Pentagon's financial management system is subject to audits.

It also sets up a system of rewards to motivate good performance by the procurement workforce, improves training for that workforce and increases its size. Efforts would be made to expand the industrial base so that more small businesses can participate and prospective contractors and major subcontractors must show that they do not have serious tax debts.

The Pentagon has long been infamous for its $600 hammers and $300 toilet seats, and Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., who for the past year has headed a panel with Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, working on recommendations for the acquisition bill, said such abuses are still common.

He cited one example of the Air Force paying $13,000 for a refrigeration unit on a plane, and then paying $32,000 for the same unit two years later. He recounted that the Pentagon paid $201 million to truck petroleum products from Kuwait to Iraq even before a contract was signed, and that it can take nearly seven years to go from a proposal to buy information technology to actual use of the technology, by which time it is often obsolete.

The House on Wednesday also passed a measure requiring federal agencies to move more aggressively to stop improper payments to contractors - such as when they pay twice for the same service or pay for a service they never receive - and retrieve money that should never have been paid.

By: Brant