Political Quotes

“I rise to offer a simple, but much needed amendment to the legislation before us today. In an effort to encourage defense contractors to perform at the highest level possible, the Department of Defense often gives its contractors the opportunity to collectively earn billions of dollars through monetary incentives known as award and incentive fees. Unfortunately, the Department's acquisition process has at times run into problems such as dramatic cost increases, late deliveries, and significant performance shortfalls--wasting billions of dollars in critical funding. Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the Pentagon's current award and incentive fee practices do not hold contractors accountable for achieving desired outcomes and routinely undermine efforts to motivate contractor performance. In its study, GAO noted that the Department regularly gives defense contractors multiple opportunities to earn incentive fees for work that at times only meets minimum standards and has wasted billions of dollars as a result of this incredibly flawed process. The Pentagon has concurred with GAO's recommendations for improving this system, and while the Department's acknowledgment of the problem is an important step forward, the effectiveness of these changes will ultimately be determined by how well GAO's recommendations are implemented.…”