Newswire:

GAO: Weapon Systems Billions Over Budget, Years Behind Schedule

The Government Accountability Office has some tough words for the weapons builders paid with your tax dollars. [Washington Post]

A “scathing” GAO investigation found that “dozens of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons systems… [including]... ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.”

Let’s take a look at the study:

95: The number of “major” systems that have gone over budget

$295 billion: The total amount of money by which they’ve exceeded their original budgets

Two years: The average lateness of their delivery

Some examples:

The Navy’s $5.2 billion Littoral Combat Ship: “...Has had such extensive troubles that the service expects the cost of its first two ships to exceed their combined budget of $472 million by more than 100 percent.”

Modernizing avionics in C-130 cargo planes: The cost for the project from Boeing has skyrocketed 323 percent to $2 billion.

Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing’s Future Combat Systems: “The prices for those two [multi-billion dollar] programs have risen 36 percent and 40 percent, respectively, from the initial contracts.”

Why the insane cost overruns?

Well, according to the GAO, “there are too many programs chasing too few dollars; technologies are often not mature enough to go into production; and it takes too long to design, develop and produce a system.”

According to Steven L Schooner, co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University, defense contractors will often low-ball estimates when bidding for government contracts, and then, once they win them, the government “lacks the discipline” to hold them accountable.

The GAO also noticed that none of the systems met the “standards for best management practices” during development. Hmm… no surprise there.

--------

Comments
Leave a comment about this article below. For more discussion, visit our community page and sign up for your own Campus Progress blog!

1. Kind of skipped a few details, no?

   JSF has been hit with a plunging dollar (lot’s of components made by partner countries) and FCS has been reorganized and had allot of it schedule accelerated and the requirements changed a few times now.

   The GAO does a good job at being critical (which is its job). Reports usually spin what they say out of control though.

   — crypt2121 - Apr 1, 09:27 PM - #
   
   

2. Kind of skipped a few details, no?

   JSF has been hit with a plunging dollar (lot’s of components made by partner countries) and FCS has been reorganized and had allot of it schedule accelerated and the requirements changed a few times now.

   The GAO does a good job at being critical (which is its job). Reports usually spin what they say out of control though.

   — crypt2121 - Apr 1, 09:28 PM - #