WASHINGTON POST: DEFENSE CONTRACTORS GET A BIG BREAK FROM THE PENTAGON

Pentagon Auditors Pressured To Favor Contractors, GAO Says

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072301437.html?wpisrc=newsletter


By Dana HedgpethWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 24, 2008; D01
Auditors at a Pentagon oversight agency were pressured by supervisors to skew their reports on major defense contractors to make them look more favorable instead of exposing wrongdoing and charges of overbilling, according to an 80-page report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.

The Defense Contract Audit Agency, which oversees contractors for the Defense Department, "improperly influenced the audit scope, conclusions and opinions" of reviews of contractor performance, the GAO said, creating a "serious independence issue."

The report does not name the projects or the contractors involved, but staff members on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee who were briefed on the findings cited seven contractors, some of whom are among the biggest in the defense industry: Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Fluor, Parker Hannifin, Sparta, SRS Technologies and a subsidiary of L3 Communications.

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