Amid a torrent of stories about secrecy, or the lack thereof, surrounding the National Security Agency’s tracing the electronic communications of U.S. citizens, you’re forgiven if you missed Friday’s report from the Pentagon inspector general on just how much – and precisely for what – the Boeing Co. overcharged the Defense Department for assorted spare parts.
Actually, you aren’t allowed to see the full report. The IG posted a one-page summary of its findings on its website:
DLA Aviation contracting officers did not negotiate fair and reasonable prices on 1,469 delivery orders, valued at $27.2 million, thereby not getting best value for the Government…As a result, DLA Aviation paid approximately $13.7 million in excess of fair and reasonable prices for 1,469 delivery orders.
Apparently, U.S. taxpayers paid roughly double what they should have.
But there are no details as to what was bought, and for how much. “The report is For Official Use Only,” the IG says – FOUO, to aficionados. “To request a copy, file a Freedom of Information Act request.”
So let’s get this straight:
— The Pentagon knows how much it paid, and for what.
— Boeing knows how much it got paid, and for what.
— The only folks left in the dark are those whose money actually paid for the items involved.
This is an wrong on so many levels, it is hard to know where to start. It’s one way to keep stories about overpriced spare parts out of the news. But it’s the arrogance it represents that is corrosive, and ultimately will bring down those who perpetuate it.
Where taxpayer funds are involved, there should be no FOIA required. The default position should be: the taxpayers paid for it, they deserve to know how well we spent their money.
Pentagon officials routinely cite competition as a reason for keeping such information under wraps. But in this case, the contracts were sole source, meaning there was no competition.
“This is the most transparent Administration in history,” President Obama said, in Fibruary.
Perhaps the headless IG – there hasn’t been an inspector general at the Pentagon for 18 months — cowers before the batteries of attorneys the Pentagon’s contractors throw at it. Or perhaps not.
But for whatever reason, the fact that the default position is not to release such a simple accounting detailing the expenditure of taxpayer funds is an outrage.