Military contracts a mess

[ursi]

Contractors making mistakes are sometimes paid for correcting their own errors

Fri, Feb 8, 2008 (2 a.m.)

A new federal audit says the military has become so dependent on private contractors that the companies are nearly impossible to fire even when they make mistakes or fail to do the jobs for which they were hired.

A report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, cites the example of ITT Federal Services International, a private company the Army hired to maintain troops’ equipment, including combat vehicles.

Combat vehicles that had been declared ready for battle failed inspections and had to be fixed again. And the company’s database was in shambles. Still, the company has received Army contracts totaling about $638 million since 2004.

Even when military contractors fail to deliver what they are paid to do, they receive bonuses and fees for labor that are written into their contracts, the GAO says. In some cases, contractors are paid twice once for the labor involved when the job was flubbed and a second time for correcting the errors.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/feb/08/military-contracts-mess/

[Demeter]

1. It's Called Cost-Plus

And it's a really old program, from NASA and Vietnam era, if not even further back. My personal knowledge started in the 70's.