Pentagon No-Bid Contracts Rise to 45% in 2011

[The Straight Story]

pentagon No-Bid Contracts Rise to 45% in 2011

The post-9/11 years at the Department of Defense have seen an enormous increase in no-bid contracts, with the lack of competition approaching 50% during the first six months of this year.

Over the course of the last 10 years, the amount of money spent by the Pentagon on non-competitive contracts has almost tripled, from $50 billion in 2001 to $140 billion in 2010, according to the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News.

And the reliance on no-bid deals has only gone up so far in 2011—to 45%—the highest rate recorded since 2001.

Like other federal agencies, the Defense Department is supposed to demand competitive bidding. But numerous loopholes in federal law make it possible for contracting officers to bypass restrictions and select a single company to provide goods and services. For example, the government may claim “an unusual and compelling urgency” to skip competition, when in fact, according to iWatch News, “the urgency stemmed from the agency’s lack of planning for requirements that have been known for years.”

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Pentagon_No_Bid_Contracts_Rise_to_45_Percent_in_2011_110830

[Bluebear]

1. Change!

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Jobs!!!!!!!!

Yes we can!!!!!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Certainly not chump change either.

:evilgrin:

[TheWraith]

4. If you'd bothered to read before your knee-jerk bashing post...

...you'd notice that this number has been rising for 10 years, and it hasn't risen that substantially since Obama took over.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled bashing of Democrats.

[theophilus]

5. I'm sure it is naive of me to say that I would have hoped for the number to have

gone down significantly under Mr. Obama's caring oversight.

[Karmadillo]

6. "In his 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama railed against such contracts...But

in two-and-half years, the Obama administration has made no progress in competing military contracts."

I bet as soon as the administration "strengthens" Social Security and Medicare, they'll be able to devote their energy to cutting down competing military contracts (but only if you put the administration back in office, as there's no time to get to this before 2012).

Go team!

[bvar22]

7. YES. WE. CAN...

...pump even MORE Public Money into Private Pockets!
Boy that Privatization of The Military has really worked out well for The Base!
Go TEAM O!


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[JoeyT]

8. Well it was an outrage six years ago,

but now it's just dandy. IOKIYAD