Tom Coburn: “3 more years? We have spent 7 years and $500 million on this system. That is a half a billion dollars. That is $2 for…”

“3 more years? We have spent 7 years and $500 million on this system. That is a half a billion dollars. That is $2 for every man, woman, and child in this country for a travel system that you could have bought off the shelf for $150 million in 2 or 3 years. The contracting issue is a different issue. If it is going to take 3 more years at $50 million a year, that means we are going to be at $650 million for this travel system. That is unacceptable. I believe we ought to say perform or don't perform and put it at a per-unit cost. Why is it that only 370,000 out of 5.6 million travel episodes were used on this system at the end of 7 years? We have a structural problem in contracting through the Defense Department, as well as many other departments in our Government. What started out to be a $60 million project is now going to end up being $650 million. It is the same issue we face with FEMA today in terms of being efficient. I ask my colleagues to think about how this will still continue if we do it on a per-travel basis. First, it will increase the stimulus to get the job done and completed because there will be more revenue, the more people who use it. Two, it will limit the total amount of money the taxpayers are going to end up having to pay for this system. Three, it will send a message to the contract officers at the Pentagon that creep in terms of contracting is not acceptable.…”