Federal Contractors Got Billions In Bonuses, Despite Performance: Report

washingtonpost.com:

Federal agencies have awarded billions in bonuses to contractors regardless of whether the work was deemed satisfactory, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last week.

Government-wide guidance issued in 2007 by the Office of Management and Budget recommended that agencies link award fees to results and prohibit payments for poor performance. That policy has saved hundreds of millions of dollars, the GAO reported.

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[4TJefferson]

Come'on Gop trolls. Aren't you going to blame this on Obama too?! Oh, The report was done in 2007. Oops.

[jekyll]

Nah....all of government is guilty regardless of party. My only criticism is that Obama wants to give these bureaucrats even more power. Now that is scary.....­:)

[hulagirrrl]

Bureaucrats are not all wasteful. Contrary, many are very accurate with the resources that have been entrusted to them. It is the onces who do not feel that obligation to their government, the non-bureaucrats that are so shamelessly wasteful. Go to your local library and check the people out that work there, how neat they repair books. Go to any federal building and check the workers out how they conserve energy and do their share. no, the big government is wasteful maybe pertains to the contracting officials, who think they walk on water and decision makers in the Pentagon, but not the entire government work force. I believe there are certain branches that should just not be privatized, period. Look at what is going on in your prison system, no rehabilitation, just caged animals and more and more, because the system needs to be fed...

[4TJefferson]

Jekyll. Do we give more power to Wall Street? How about AIG? GM? Bear/Stearns? Goldman/Sachs? Somebody has to restore TRUST. After the past eight years it is no suprise that there is very little trust going around. I think Obama is at least making the attempt as opposed to just thumbing his nose i.e. Cheney/Bush.

[PhilipTaylor]

A Continuing sign of the Ethical and Moral Decay in America!

400 to 1 pay advantage for EL1TES of Wall Street and massive pay advantages for the Military Contractors (e.g., KBR and Haliburton) and lastly to those in Government (including our Congress and the bureaucracy) who allowed it all to happen!

"One hand washes the other!"

[FoonTheElder]

I guess this is what happens when you run government just like a business. Big shots who have done nothing to deserve big bonuses automatically get them, while everybody else pays the bill.

Big business and big government have become great practitioners of rewarding failure with big bonuses. Why should you expect anything except for failure when you reward failure.

[hulagirrrl]

Very good comment.

[jekyll]

This reminds me of when The Department of Defense reported $1.1 trillion of "undocumented adjustments" in 2000. Undocumented adjustments means that the money is LOST! Check it out
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/missing_money/images/1.1trillion.htm

And people want government running healthcare­....come on:)

[spinns17]

more money for the repugs to take .healthcare for everyone

[jekyll]

It's not a partisan issue. Both parties are run by circus clowns:)

[hulagirrrl]

The undocumented adjustments and government controlled healthcare are just like apples and oranges. I am from a country with government controlled healthcare, and let me tell you, the healthcare is the only thing that makes me homesick, but I know, since I have not applied for citizenship in this country, if push ever comes to shove, should I become really sick, i could at least go home, an option that millions of American do not have, unfortunately. Government controlled healthcare is not a bad thing, just like government controlled road construction, airports, FAA, fire departments, and whatever. There is just an oversight, but the government would not be in the business of running every day operations, and anyway, at this point, anything is better than what you got here.

[spinns17]

just taking care of all john mc cane friends

[wyldrnwolf]

And, how do I get a job like that?

[jekyll]

LMAO!

[Thucydides Jr.]

Geez - Lake Wobegon contractors, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the projects completed are above average.

[dinglebe]

I suspect that there are a lot of "tight" little friendships between contractors and some procurement personnel.­..

[hulagirrrl]

I would maybe say that as a military officer in the procurement department he/she may have promises of a civilian job with certain contractors, but the average procurement personnel is so tightly controlled and regulated that there is not much room to cheat. All the cheating is done at the top. You know, sort of like the saying goes: " The fish always starts to stink at the head!!"

[sc300nc]

Just another great example of why government cannot be trusted administering our healthcare. They have no clue how to administer anything efficiently or economically.

[LeLoup]

Oh! So, we're going to have contractors running the public option?

Dude! You've got a breaking news story here.

[jekyll]

As if government has done such a great job with Medicare and Medacaid. There is only a couple dozen $Trillion shortfall. The government sure passed that test.....N­OT!

[lightningbolt]

Government is only inefficient and clueless when republicans are running it. They run the government inefficiently so that they can say government is inefficient, and use that as an excuse to remove regulations from large corporations. So stop voting for republicans and the government won't be so inefficient anymore.

[jekyll]

Wow...anot­her deep thinker:)

[Thucydides Jr.]

Government gets inefficient when there is a weird collusion between gov't and businesses, regardless of who is in charge. Contractors getting bonuses while electrocuting soldiers, Goldmans Sachs getting sweetheart deals with the Gov't as their members move back and forth, and food companies paying for their own inspections but not enough to keep the right number of inspectors on the job.

As for health care, Medicare is remarkably efficient because it is just a government thing. No outsourcing of medicare operations. They pay less for the same treatment because the government actually looked at what it costs and pays that, with no unneeded services and no denial of services to bump the bottom line.

[WhatDaBleep]

Now that is Accountability the Republican Way!

[jekyll]

Wait until H.R. 1207 "Audit the FED" bill passes. The GAO will have a field day exposing the corruption and lunacy policies of the FED.

[lightningbolt]

They already have enough cosponsors and it is still not being voted on. This resolution will never pass. Congress has no power anymore.

[jekyll]

I wonder why it has not gone up for vote yet....may­be because Barney is running the show.

[Thucydides Jr.]

Congress has the power. They are choosing not to use it for a host of self-aggrandizing reasons.

[Kassandra]

We already knew this...nex­t.......