Pentagon Claims $757 Million Overbilling by Contractor in Afghanistan
http://truth-out.org/news/item/16034-pentagon-claims-757-million-overbilling-by-contractor-in-afghanistan
The principal food supplier to US troops in Afghanistan is embroiled in a costly dispute with the Pentagon that has attracted congressional interest.
Pentagon Claims $757 Million Overbilling by Contractor in Afghanistan
Saturday, 27 April 2013 11:06
By Richard H.P. Sia, The Center for Public Integrity | Report
The Pentagon allowed a private firm providing food and water to U.S. troops in Afghanistan to overbill taxpayers $757 million and awarded the company no-bid contract extensions worth more than $4 billion over three years, according to the Pentagons chief internal watchdog and congressional investigators.
The deal represented one of the largest U.S. military contracts in Afghanistan. But the Defense Logistics Agency, which was overseeing the contract, failed repeatedly to verify that the contractors invoices were accurate, an official in the Defense Department inspector generals office said. "This has to be one of the prime poster childs for a government contract spun out of control," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said last week.
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The House subcommittee, which launched a probe of the contract last spring, found that the defense agency already had paid Supreme $1.38 billion for distributing food to additional locations when it determined it had overpaid the firm by $756.9 million. Despite all of these problems, the agency failed to rebid the contract after the contract expired [in 2010] and decided to grant Supreme a no-bid extension of the contract that ended up lasting two more years, Tierney said.
Matthew Beebe, DLAs deputy director for acquisition, told the panel that his agency has recouped $283 million over a third of the $757 million in overpayments by withholding nearly $22 million a month from Supreme, which is still supplying food and water to U.S. troops and NATO forces. The withholding, which began on March 2012, followed unsuccessful negotiations and audits in 2008 and 2011 to determine whether Supremes rates were fair and reasonable, Beebe said.
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