Politics at House Hearing Distract From Needed Pentagon Acquisition Reforms
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By Maiya Clark & Jacob Montoya
February 11, 2022
Politics at House Hearing Distract From Needed Pentagon Acquisition Reforms
A recent congressional hearing looking into a defense contractor supposedly overcharging taxpayers turned out to be mostly political theater as lawmakers accused the contractor of greed when the real problem is the Pentagon’s flawed contracting practices.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee convened a hearing to consider the actions of defense contractor TransDigm Group after the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General claimed that TransDigm had overcharged the government for certain aircraft components, making $20.8 million in “excess profit” between 2017 and 2019.
The inspector general recommended that the Pentagon “seek a voluntary refund” from TransDigm and that Congress enact legislation requiring contractors like TransDigm to provide certified cost or pricing data so that contracting officers could determine “price reasonableness.”
Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and other Democratic members of the committee demanded that “greedy” TransDigm return over $20.8 million to the Pentagon and proposed new legislation requiring companies to provide cost information to contracting officers.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/02/11/politics_at_house_hearing_distract_from_needed_pentagon_acquisition_reforms_816270.html
