WP: Pentagon Wasted Supplies, GAO Finds

[DeepModem Mom]

Pentagon Wasted Supplies, GAO Finds

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 8, 2005; Page D01


The Defense Department spent at least $400 million in recent years buying boots, tents, bandages and other goods at the same time it was getting rid of identical items it had paid for but never used, government investigators told House members yesterday.

That finding came as part of a broader inquiry by the Government Accountability Office that uncovered deep flaws in the Pentagon's system for determining when it needs to buy new supplies and how it disposes of supposedly excess inventory.

Investigators discovered that out of $33 billion of goods the Defense Department marked as excess from 2002 through 2004, $4 billion was in excellent condition. Only about 12 percent of that was reused by the department. The other $3.5 billion "includes significant waste and inefficiency," the GAO said, because new or good-as-new items were "transferred and donated outside of DOD, sold for pennies on the dollar, or destroyed."

Investigators brought some of that equipment with them to the hearing of a House Government Reform Committee subcommittee yesterday. Among the items on display were unused military uniforms and medals that GAO had purchased off of a publicly available Web site intended for disposing of unwanted government property. The GAO also obtained the power-supply system for a component of a nuclear submarine that was on the Pentagon's "critical shortage" list at the time.

"We're not sure why DOD would be letting GAO have that. We don't have any nuclear submarines at GAO," said Gregory D. Kutz, the GAO's managing director for special investigations....


(Note: The article quotes Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) as saying that the GAO's findings involved the waste of "an unbelievably staggering amount of money. Anybody who's not horrified by this does not deserve to be called a conservative.")


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/07/AR2005060701823.html

[htuttle]

1. Another classic racketeering scam

Use someone else's money to buy unneeded stuff from your Family's suppliers. The mob pulls the same scams in the restaurant/bar business to launder money.

[0007]

2. .....yeah, sprinkle a little nepotism into the waste and "presto"

a new millionaire is produced.

[acmavm]

3. That's our Pentagon for ya. This has always been SOP.

Frigging idiots.

[central scrutinizer]

16. Exactly, this is SOP, not LBN

I have seen this same headline for probably 30 years - The dramatis personae may be different but the script is the same.

[Supersedeas]

4. Defense Contractors making out like bandits--Bush and Rummi friends at

Carlyle smyle.

[Zorra]

5. Bingo. n/t

[TahitiNut]

17. It's not only the contractors who sell these goods to the DOD ...

... it's also, perhaps even more significantly, the contractors who're operating the supply depots and other facilites in the Defense Logistics Agency. This is what "privatization" gets us: privateers.

DLA (Defense Logistics Agency) is DOD’s combat support agency under the supervision, direction, authority, and control of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. DLA’s mission is to provide best-value logistics support to America’s armed forces, in peace and in war, around the clock, and around the world. In carrying out its mission, DLA manages inventory valued at about $83 billion, consisting of more than 5 million consumable (expendable) items, including commodities such as fuel, food, clothing and other textiles, medical supplies, industrial use items, and spare and repair parts supporting over 1,400 weapon systems. DLA also buys and distributes hardware and electronic items that are used in maintenance and repair of equipment and weapons systems. In fiscal years 2002 and 2003, DLA expenditures related to sales and services amounted to over $46.5 billion, including about $36 billion for commodity purchases and about $600 million for DRMS excess property disposal services. DLA and DRMS (Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service) operate under the Defense-wide Working Capital Fund. DLA is financed through user charges to cover costs, and DRMS is financed through user charges and excess property and scrap sale proceeds. DLA activities related to this report fall into two main areas: (1) commodity acquisition and management and (2) excess property disposals by DRMS and DLA-managed supply distribution depots (referred to as DLA supply depots).

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05277.pdf

[Patty Diana]

6. Here's the GAO Report

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the following reports and testimonies:

REPORTS

1. DOD Excess Property: Management Control Breakdowns Result in Substantial Waste and Inefficiency. GAO-05-277, May 13.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-277
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05277high.pdf

2. Mutual Fund Trading Abuses: SEC Consistently Applied Procedures in Setting Penalties, but Could Strengthen Certain Internal Controls. GAO-05-385, May 16.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-385
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05385high.pdf

3. National Park Service: Revenues Could Increase by Charging Allowed Fees for Some Special Use Permits. GAO-05-410, May 6.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-410
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05410high.pdf

TESTIMONIES

1. DOD Excess Property: Management Control Breakdowns Result in Substantial Waste and Inefficiency, by Gregory D. Kutz, managing director, forensic audits and special investigations, before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO-05-729T, June 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-729T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05729thigh.pdf

2. Private Pensions: Revision of Defined Benefit Pension Plan Funding Rules Is an Essential Component of Comprehensive Pension Reform, by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Senate Committee on Finance. GAO-05-794T, June 7.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-794T
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05794thigh.pdf

These and other GAO products are available from the "Reports and Testimony" section of GAO's Internet site, http://www.gao.gov.

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[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thanks, Patty! nt

[Califooyah Operative]

8. Major Government Waste Uncovered

Major Government Waste Uncovered

June 8 (ABC7) — At a time when our schools and city services are straining to stretch every tax dollar, we have found a story of government waste that is simply staggering. Hundreds of millions of dollars a year are thrown away, or given away, or simply lost.

The military buys billions of dollars in equipment every year -- everything from planes and tanks to bicycles and bandages, and the government loses track of a whole lot of this stuff. It winds up being sold on the Internet. You can buy it. Heck, you've already bought it.

...
Out of $2.5 billion dollars worth, the Pentagon used only 12 percent. Another 10 percent was transferred to other government agencies. A full quarter of it was thrown away, brand new stuff into the landfills. And the rest was sold to the public, $1.3 billion dollars worth of new gear sold for what the report terms pennies on the dollar, at the same time the military was paying top dollar purchasing the same or similar items new.

Greg Kutz, GAO: "We identified at least $400 million dollars of items that they were giving away selling for pennies on the dollar or destroying at the same time they were in demand by the military forces."

much more...
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/politics/060805_politics_gao_report.html

[Triana]

9. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????

:grr: :banghead: :wtf: :mad:
:grr: :banghead: :wtf: :mad:
:grr: :banghead: :wtf: :mad:


I can't even find WORDS for this!

[merwin]

10. Heh, I thought they were talking about the GOP

[wallwriter]

15. I was gonna say GWB... Good line...

[merwin]

18. Thanks :-) Too good to pass up

[Enraged_Ape]

11. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

The Bush administration: The largest smash-and-grab robbery in world history.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. The largest smash-and-grab robbery in world history.

Couldn't agree with you more..... not one iota.

[gumby]

13. "Smash-and-grab"

Indeed!!!!!

On a much more sleezy scale than the buy-out mania or the S&L scandals.

[kikiek]

14. Current issue of US News and World Report has an interesting

article. I can't believe how much this administration gets away with. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050613/13swamp.htm

[Califooyah Operative]

19. kick