Bid, Schmid!

A new report released from the Center for Public Integrity shows that the shennanigans with Halliburton are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. (Courtesy The New York Times):

"Competitive bidding at the Pentagon happens less often than we think, and the no-bid controversy surrounding Halliburton in Iraq actually is, unfortunately, not an aberration," said Charles Lewis, the center's executive director. Mr. Lewis's organization was one of the first to study contracts won by Halliburton and other companies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and today's report grew out of that earlier work.

The study details the sketchy relationship between the government and several big-name contractors, including Halliburton and Boeing. But the biggest offender of them all is Lockheed Martin, who received $94 million in Pentagon contracts, seventy-four percent of which was non-competitive. Back in grad school I did some paralegal work for a firm suing Lockheed Martin for some of the environmental damage they'd committed in southern California, and let me tell you: they are one slimy corporation. Of course, that's not how they see it:

Thomas C. Greer, a Lockheed spokesman, said that because of "the substantial investment and lengthy development cycles, followed by limited annual production quantities," competitive bidding for Pentagon contracts is often not cost effective. Nevertheless, "It is important to note that sole-source awards still mandate contractor performance," Mr. Greer said.

Oh, well then. I mean, as long as they're still mandating performance, no problem! Except that to mandate performance, it kind of helps if you're monitoring it, and that's exactly what ain't happening:

"There is an even more fundamental problem underscoring our entire investigation: the stunning lack of accountability," said Mr. Lewis. "This is a Keystone Kop situation where no one is monitoring the monitors. This is a very serious situation, and the Pentagon is treating it like a hair in the soup."

Keystone Kops. Pretty much sums it up, don't you think?