19-cent washer scandal raises questions

Published: August 17, 2007, 12:52 pm

Have you read about the part supplying company that has bilked the military out of billions of dollars? The owners of C&D Distributors found a flaw in the Defense Department purchasing system and exploited it to the tune of some $20 million dollars. They charged $998, 798 to ship two 19-cent washers to a military base in Texas. Due to Defense's system of paying bills for combat bills or U.S. bases automatically, the owners have been getting away with this sort of thing for six years. Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator, admits there was no oversight for items that were earmarked priority. Here's the question I have. If getting two washers was such a priority, why didn't someone just go to the nearest hardware store? Why should washers have to be sent from South Carolina to Texas in the first place? Shouldn't there be a surplus of basic essentials like washers, screws and nails on hand at a military base? And what major operations were these little washers holding

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