• Markup at Macy’s: USG W-A-Y Overpays in Iraq

    August 11, 2011

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in: Embassy/State, Iraq, Military

    Maybe this is a good way to create jobs: have the US Government wildly overpay for things, pumping millions of dollars into the economy. It seems to have worked, actually, albeit in the United Arab Emirates.

    According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), a United Arab Emirates-based logistics contractor billed Defense Department authorities in Iraq for parts at prices marked up as high as 5,000 percent and 12,000 percent.

    A review of a $119 million reconstruction and logistics contract with Anham LLC questioned almost 40 percent of its costs, including:

    — $900 for a control switch valued at $7.05 (a 12,666 percent increase);

    — $80 for a small segment of drainpipe valued at $1.41 (a 5,574 percent increase);

    — $75 for a different piece of plumbing equipment also valued at $1.41 (a 5,219 percent increase);

    — $3,000 for a circuit breaker valued at $94.47 (a 3,076 percent increase);

    — $4,500 for another kind of circuit breaker valued at $183.30 (a 2,355 percent increase).

    Meanwhile, we have no money at home for schools, roads, social security or snacks at meetings.



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    • Recent Comments

    • Concerned Taxpayer said...

      1

      Sure seems like they overpay you!! Why are we taxpayers paying you again?? So you can feed at the government trough, take our hard earned tax dollars, and undermine our international standing? How about you quit your job and send your salary to schools and roads.

      08/12/11 1:56 AM | Comment Link

    • Administrator said...

      2

      Good to see that I am reaching my target audience at State. The Iraq Desk should be proud of the work you are doing here on the front lines, Concerned Taxpayer.

      08/12/11 3:01 PM | Comment Link

    • aha said...

      3

      LOL! You think the author of this blog is paid by the taxpayers to blog from his office at the State Department?

      “Concerned Taxpayer” should appreciate WMW is reporting about a SIGIR investigation of overbilling by a US contractor. If commenter really is a “concerned taxpayer” he ought to be truly concerned that we, the taxpayers are billed some $900 for a control switch that cost $7.05 at Lowe’s or Home Depot.

      Where’s the anger on that? Our international standing has been undermined since our misadventures into Iraq. Please do not put that blame on the author’s doorstep.

      08/12/11 5:20 PM | Comment Link

    • AnotherTaxpayer said...

      4

      Whatever money Van Buren gets is nothing compared to the waste of billions a week in pointless wars. We need a PRT in Detroit, one in New Orleans, not in Afghanistan. Start spending money at home, for Americans. The State Department should be defunded on a Friday and reopened as a branch of DoD the next Monday. Maybe then something will get done for America.

      08/12/11 5:28 PM | Comment Link

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