Posted by D. Cupples | Every dollar that goes toward waste, fraud or abuse is a dollar that we could instead use to pay down our national debt or take care of legitimate needs.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) -- likely our most non-partisan entity, as it answers to both parties in Congress -- is turning blue faced. Since 2003, the GAO has repeatedly reviewed the U.S. Defense Department's efficiency re: acquiring weapons systems and has repeatedly found major room for improvement....
In November 2005, for example, the GAO reported that weapons system program managers should get more support and be more accountable. Apparently, they measured success based on how much funding they got, which made it "not in a program manager’s interest to develop accurate estimates of cost, schedule, and technology readiness, because honest assessments could result in lost funding." In other words, there was incentive to fudge figures.
Two years later (i.e., last week), the GAO reported that the Defense Department's issues haven't really been resolved....
"As we reported in 2005, DOD continues to start many more programs than it can afford and rarely prioritizes them for funding purposes. In addition, DOD allows programs to begin without establishing a formal business case. Further, technologies are not always mature at program start, requirements are not always fully defined, and cost and schedule estimates are often unrealistic—resulting in a mismatch between customer needs and available resources. As a result, program managers are often not well-positioned to successfully execute weapon acquisitions and are often relegated to program advocacy in order to ensure programs continue." (GAO)
The U.S. taxpayers are spending an unprecedented amount on military activities and government contractors. That and our national debt exceeds $9 trillion (about three times our annual budget).
Related BN-Politics Posts:
* Govt. Contractors: Driving up War's Costs?
* DoD to Take Over State Dept.'s Security Contracts: Will it Matter?
* Time for Pentagon to Get Serious About Contractor Fraud
* Billions over Baghdad: Poor Accounting Allowed Waste & Fraud
* How DoD Flushes Tax Dollars Down the Latrine
* DoD Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?
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