In a stunning example of the Pentagon's paying prowess, C&D Distributors, a "small parts supplier" in South Carolina, charged more than $20.5 million dollars in fraudulent shipping costs:
It's good these guys were caught, but here's where I think the problem really lies:
``The majority, if not all of these parts, were going to high-priority, conflict areas -- that's why they got paid,'' Stroot said. If the item was earmarked ``priority,'' destined for the military in Iraq, Afghanistan or certain other locations, ``there was no oversight.''
(emphasis mine).
More after the jump.
Essentially, these contractors were really good at charging lots and lots of money for really, really cheap items shipped into high-priority areas:
A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.
The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.
And while the Pentagon's lead investigator claims that fraudulent shipping is not a widespread problem (the next fraudulent shipper only billed a measly "2 million in questionable transport costs").
While it would make sense that priority shipping would need to go to conflict areas ASAP, the lack of oversight here, or not catching such costs until C&D had racked up 20.5 million after 6 years is pretty scary. No wonder the US government is able to find ways to spend $500 billion!
(Weirdly enough, thanks to Dave Barry, humor columnist, for posting this in his blog. Truth is funnier than fiction! And by funny, I mean scary.)
I wonder how much it costs to ship a hammer?