No, not a loose cannon security organization: Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers
(Bloomberg) — 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 an Army base in Texas, 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.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina — twin sisters — exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled “priority” were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
C&D has been barred from getting government contracts. Ya think?
No Responses to ““Rogue Contractor””
So, does the Pentagon (and more importantly John Q. Taxpayer)get it’s money back? Since when is Patrick AFB a war zone? The beaches there are pretty da-n nice!
I hope they nail these guys, but the biggest frauds are those that occur in plain sight and legally. It amazes me that those don’t get more people riled up.
ALERT MURDOC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You got spamers at 12-O’Clock High!!!!!!! Check the message just above mine.
Hey! Is that program still ongoing? LOL!
I’m surprised that this got caught. Amounts under 10 million are virtually never reviewed unless an audit is in progress. The old saying, ‘a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you start talking about real money’ is alive and well. Of course these guys are rank armatures – they actually provided a real product. A true vendor should be able to charge millions and not provide anything of material worth.
Yeah, look at Crusader. Wasn’t that one in the $2 to $4 billion class when it was cancelled? Hell, after spending all that money, you’d think each taxpayer in the US would get a shiny trigger switch or something other than F’ed up the ass from it.