WP: Probe of FAA Contracting Finds Waste: Losses in Millions

[DeepModem Mom]

Probe of FAA Contracting Finds Waste
Mismanagement Blamed For Losses in Millions
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 23, 2006; Page D01

A Federal Aviation Administration contracting program, initially hailed as a way to make the agency more efficient, was so poorly managed that it cost the government millions of dollars in overruns, according to a government investigative report and legislators who reviewed its conclusions. The FAA has disbanded the program.

The program was designed to allow the FAA to obtain services faster and cheaper by using 142 approved vendors.

But the FAA ran into major problems shortly after the program's inception in 2002 because contracts were supervised poorly, many were not put out for competitive bids and officials did not set proper labor rates, according to a report to be released Monday by the Transportation Department inspector general's office.

The report does not say precisely how much the FAA was overcharged by contractors but describes a variety of problems, including the hiring of former FAA employees by contractors.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who requested the investigation, said the program's problems cost the government tens of millions of dollars....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201547.html

[N90ATC]

1. FAA

The FAA may very well be the worst-run federal agency out there. Maybe FEMA's worse but it's a close call.