Federal procurement spending soared to $412.1 billion in 2006, setting a new record in government contracting, according to a report released by the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-Calif.) assessment, released Wednesday and entitled “More Dollars, Less Sense,” said more than half the procurement spending was allotted to contracts not subject to full and open competition.
{mosads}The study is a follow-up to one the congressman conducted last year of government contracting under the Bush administration between 2000 and 2005.
The new study calls attention to a 51 percent increase in procurement spending from 2005 to 2006 in the Department of Homeland Security. For the first time, 40 cents of every discretionary dollar spent by the federal government has gone to a contract with a private company.
2006 saw the largest single-year climb in no-bid and limited-competition contracts ever, from $145.1 billion in 2005 to $206.9 billion. Under Bush, federal spending has risen 48 percent, according to the report.
Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Halliburton are the top six beneficiaries of federal contracts, together receiving nearly $100 billion in 2006, accounting for 24 percent of procurement spending.
More than 700 reports were reviewed by the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and other agency inspectors. One hundred eighty-seven of those contracts, valued at $1.1 trillion dollars, were tainted by mismanagement, according to the report.