Tom Coburn: “Early in my statement I made this point: We are fixing the wrong problem. The problem is the computer system. The reason…”

“Early in my statement I made this point: We are fixing the wrong problem. The problem is the computer system. The reason this is so expensive, the computer systems in the Pentagon do not talk to one another. We have designed a monstrous computer system to make it talk to all these systems that will not talk to one another rather than to fix the computer system in the Pentagon to make them talk to one another. If we do that on every project that we need to enhance and overfill for the Pentagon, we are going to get into the same problem. They make all their money by being able to pay the bill. But it is a travel system. If they make efficiency in terms of being able to pay the bill--which is the problem the Pentagon was having--we ought to also expect them to get the fares right and not have to pay another $6 to a travel agent for every ticket they write, to doublecheck to see if the system was right. That is what is happening. When you say 90 percent, that is 90 percent, plus we are having the travel agents check it. It is not an automated system. Have they made improvements? Yes, I do not deny that. But if they are where they need to be, and if their contract as originally specified and modified, if they are at 90 percent, they will make a ton more money on a per-transaction basis, and we will get what we need and they will get what they need. But they are not. That is why we have the resistance to a transaction basis. You cannot have it both ways.…”