More Alleged Contractor Fraud re: Iraq and Afghanistan: Shipping Company to Pay $26.3 Million to Settle Cases

by Deb Cupples |  Admittedly, some people working at companies that get government contractors deserve snaps for creativity (however dishonest and despicable their behavior).  In the instant case, a shipping company allegedly found rather clever ways to double-bill us taxpayers for shipping items to Iraq and Afghanistan -- items necessary for our troops, no less.

Whenever blogging about contractor waste, fraud and abuse, I feel remiss if I fail to state some variation of this obvious truth:  every dollar that goes toward waste or fraud is one less dollar to pay for necessary goods and services.

It follows that one way to lower our taxes is for politicians and government officials to more diligently handle private contracts and contractors. Anyway, the Department of Justice (DoJ) reports:

"APL Limited has agreed to pay the government $26.3 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the United States in connection with contracts to transport cargo in shipping containers to support U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced today. The government alleges that APL, a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited, knowingly overcharged and double-billed the Department of Defense to transport thousands of containers from ports to inland delivery destinations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The government alleges that APL inflated its invoices in several ways. For example, APL billed in excess of the rate it paid to plug refrigerated containers holding perishable cargo into a source of electricity at a port in Karachi, Pakistan; billed in excess of the contractual rate to maintain the operation of refrigerated containers at a port in Karachi and at U.S. military bases in Afghanistan; and billed for various non-reimbursable services performed by APL’s subcontractor at a Kuwaiti port." (DoJ)

Fixing the massively costly root problem of contractor waste, fraud and abuse is largely the executive branch's responsibility because executive agencies tends to be the ones negotiating with contractors, drafting contracts, and monitoring contractors (or failing to monitor them).

Under President Bush (43), many contractors -- especially those dealing with the Iraq war -- seemed to get taxpayer-unfriendly contracts (like cost-plus contracts) and seemed to go largely unmonitored. 

The Iraq war might have been expensive under the best of circumstances, but I suspect that we taxpayers might have paid 20%-40% less for the goods and services we did get if government officials had done a better job of 1) drafting contracts, and 2) monitoring contractors.

My hope is that President Obama will fully reverse the Bush trend regarding private contractors.

Related Buck Naked Politics Posts:

* Business as Usual: Doctors Charged with $10 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

* High Cost of Private Contracting

* AT&T to Pay $8.2 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case

* Insurance Companies Get Away with Over-billing Medicare

* Investigators Look into Bribery by Senior Military Officers but Should Look Higher

* KBR to Pay $579 Million to Settle Bribery Charges

*  Inspector General Blocked Investigations into Waste & Fraud?

* Have U.S. Officials Protected Blackwater?

* Time to Get Really Serious about Contractor Fraud

* Billions over Baghdad: Poor Accounting Allowed Waste & Fraud

* Yet Another Contractor Bilks Taxpayers

* How the Energy Dept. Incinerated Tax Dollars

* New Orleans Still Suffering after 2 Years and Billions of Tax Dollars

* How the Defense Dept. Flushes Dollars Down Latrine   

* U.S. Embassies: Still More Examples of Contractor Problems

* Contractors Offering Bribes to Army Personnel?

* Taxpayers Losing Money to Engorged Contractors

* Audit Red-Flags Contractor in Iraq

* Defense Dept. Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?

Comments

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i like this part of the blog:"Under President Bush (43), many contractors -- especially those dealing with the Iraq war -- seemed to get taxpayer-unfriendly contracts (like cost-plus contracts) and seemed to go largely unmonitored. " is very good

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