Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers

[WildcatRick]

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070816/pl_bloomberg/ardg6dwccmfi

[Terry L. Wildcat]

Talk about a screw job ;)

[Dwight Schrute]

They needed to solidify the $600 toilet seat in place.

[The Old School JPS]

A college friend of mine who is now in the Army and has done tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan visited us a few weekends ago. The stories he had to tell about the waste and fraud that private contractors engage in there were very dismaying. Same for the complete absence of accountability they have.

[bigjeep]

Gotta love our non able to fire even though they are inept at their jobs tax paid government money overseers...