Pentagon watchdog misses US$1bn audit

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LI02Dj02.html


Military auditors failed to complete an audit of the business systems of an Ohio-based company - Mission Essential Personnel - even though it had billed for US$1 billion worth of work largely in Afghanistan over the past four years.

In September 2007, the US Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) awarded Mission Essential Personnel (MEP) a five-year-contract worth up to $414 million to provide 1,691 translators in Afghanistan. MEP was a start-up company created by three men, including Chad Monnin, a US Army Special Forces reservist who was injured in a parachute accident. Procurement rules give preference to companies owned by injured veterans, even if they have no prior experience.

When the Obama administration decided to expand the war in Afghanistan last year, MEP quickly hit the ceiling of what it could bill. On May 10, INSCOM gave MEP a $679 million extension without bothering to put it up for competitive bid. MEP will also get a share of the Intelligence Support Services Omnibus III contract, a five-year contract, with a ceiling of $492 million, announced on August 10, 2010.

-snip-

Yet the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) failed to conduct a full business systems audit for MEP.

Concerned about DCAA's failure, Christopher Shays, one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, told MEP chief executive Chris Taylor: "You don't have to compete for it, and you, whatever your costs are, you get something plus, and you haven't had any audits." Shays assured MEP that he was not suggesting that the company had done anything wrong, re-iterating that the commission considered MEP "a great American success story".

-very long snip-

"We are also working to prioritize audit workload and make sure that high-risk audits are identified and completed in a timely manner," a Pentagon spokesperson told IPS, noting that the agency was currently working to create a new strategic plan, and will re-assess the new performance measures introduced in 2008.
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puke

watchdogs hate the word peace too

money, money, money

[Dappleganger]

1. "without putting up for a competitive bid"

That seems to be the stand MO for republicans, everywhere, including my state of FL. Either there is no bidding, or the bidding is a show where they plan to award it to their buddies anyway.

[mike r]

2. What's a billion between friends?

It's a drop in the bucket.

[robinlynne]

3. how many people can a billion dollars feed? how much healthcare can it buy?

[ensho]

4. or the 20,000 Iraqi babies waiting for heart surgery

we are guilty