Editorial: Wasting taxpayers’ money

Sunday, July 22, 2007 | 1:18 a.m.

The Bush administration is outsourcing an increasing portion of our federal government's services to private companies, and the arrangement isn't working.

A report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, says the U.S. government is the "largest single buyer in the world" of goods and services from private companies, spending more than $400 billion in fiscal 2006 alone. Such contracts now account for 25 percent of the government's discretionary spending, with the largest increases occurring in the Defense, Energy and Homeland Security departments after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the GAO reports. "Agencies continue to experience poor acquisition outcomes in buying goods and services" and ensuring oversight, the GAO says.

A large chunk of that spending has been squandered on contracts connected with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As noted in an editorial by the Las Vegas Sun on Saturday, KBR Inc. actually billed the government $110 million for housing, food and other services to be rendered at U.S. military bases in Iraq that already had been closed. After getting a contract extension of $3.7 billion for other services, KBR agreed to drop the $110 million request. How kind.

Last year the U.S. Army contracted with private companies to perform maintenance and other services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. - despite objections from government workers who said they could do the jobs better. The hospital's commander, the Army secretary and the Army surgeon general were relieved of command or forced to resign this spring after reports of case backlogs and shoddy conditions that included vermin scurrying through patients' rooms.

And it would be hard to forget the waste and the government's lack of oversight of contractors in the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Billions in federal aid were misspent on private contracts for duplicate charges or work that was substandard.

This is wrong. Crucial government services are being outsourced to private entities whose primary purpose is to make money rather than serve the people. As a result, accountability and value have been lost. Certainly, some services must be purchased from the private sector, but such contracts should be few and oversight must be strict. The Bush administration's push to privatize government by needlessly rewarding big business with government contracts has denied Americans the responsive, well-run government they deserve.