Carolyn Maloney: “The examples of lack of accountability are endless: BAE Systems: Last year, BAE settled an international bribery case in…”

“The examples of lack of accountability are endless: BAE Systems: Last year, BAE settled an international bribery case in the U.S. and UK for $450 million and pleaded guilty to criminal charges. But it was allowed to keep doing business with the federal government and has won billions of dollars in contracts since then. Even last week's run-in with the State Department, when BAE paid $79 million after State discovered they had withheld vital info while negotiating last year's settlement, hasn't hurt it. BP: Last year, the EPA was considering debarring BP for its many environmental and workplace safety violations, but DoD pressured them to back off because BP supplies 80 percent of the fuel to U.S. forces. KBR: Still a key DoD supplier despite a long history of misconduct, including incidents that put the lives of soldiers and employees at risk. Charles Tiefer of the Commission on Wartime Contracting nicknamed five large companies that do business with DoD (KBR, Agility, Louis Berger Group, Tamimi, First Kuwaiti) the ``Flagrant Five'' for continuing to receive contracts despite claims of fraud, misconduct and poor performance. At a time when the public is questioning the ethics and integrity of the federal government and its spending of taxpayer dollars, the very least we can do is to shine a little light on the revolving door between the government and large private contractors. This amendment would do just that.…”