By Nick Schwellenbach
Crackerjack Pentagon correspondent Tony Capaccio broke the news on Bloomberg today:
Boeing Co. charged the U.S. Army excessive prices for helicopter spare parts, including $644.75 for a tiny black plastic motor gear that cost another Pentagon agency $12.51, according to the Defense Department’s Inspector General.
Boeing earlier this year refunded $556,006 on the “spur gear” after an audit draft was issued. The second-largest defense contractor issued an additional $76,849 Army refund for a dime-sized, plastic “roller assembly” that costs $7.71; Boeing charged the Army $1,678.61 apiece. Both are installed on the CH-47 Chinook.
The full Inspector General report is not out yet, but the results in brief are.
POGO was founded 30 years ago and is celebrating its 30th anniversary next week. We gained widespread fame exposing spare parts horror stories in the 1980s—apparently they, like POGO, haven’t gone away.
Nick Schwellenbach is POGO's Director of Investigations.
Image: Defense Department Office of Inspector General.
See also:
Boeing misconduct entries in POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database:
I have heard about similar this like this in the US army and spare parts of vehicles, I wish there was more openness with these kinds of things because if the government was getting ripped off im sure the public would picket these companies
Posted by: Peter Woodfellow | May 11, 2011 at 08:23 AM
Not true !
Posted by: Jay Bernhardt | May 06, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Boeing sold the FSC # 1560 one for $5.82 each & $6.04 each. I do not see any sales for $1678.60
Posted by: Jay Bernhardt | May 06, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Not to say we didn't get ripped off, but the CAGE code on the part in the left picture indicates it was not a made by Boeing. Do we know if this company is one of Boeing's suppliers for this part? Did Boeing bill us for the part under its NSN, or Boeing's part number? When we buy from an OEM like Boeing we're bound to pay more. The KO should have ordered the parts via NSN, since one is assigned. Did DLA buy it in the same quantity as was purchased from Boeing? If we were stupid enough to buy from Boeing for a 1 each, then we probably also had to pay "set up" and other similar charges associated with small production runs. If it was defective pricing, why is the refund a result of an IG audit and not a criminal or civil investigation/ DP cases may make the prosecutors' eyes glaze over, but they are not impossible to prove. More of them need to be pursued!!
Posted by: Craig | May 05, 2011 at 12:52 AM