Tom Coburn: “I don't have any problems in putting a lid on this contract, but let's have a little history. The reason the judge could…”

“I don't have any problems in putting a lid on this contract, but let's have a little history. The reason the judge could not find a violation in the Competition in Contracting Act was because the Pentagon did not own the software. By design, they cannot have it if they do not own it. It was interesting, before the hearing last week, the contractor offered to give the property rights to the Pentagon. In the testimony last week, it was noted that DTS performs less effectively than almost every other civilian e-travel system. We are 7 years into it. We are going to spend another $150 million. Also, in the history of the contract, this is another no-bid contract that I know Senator Levin is very interested in. It is a cost plus-- $43.7 million in the first year, that was not in the contract, and we went on and paid it for anyway. Based on what is happening with the contracting and how we are getting around the Competition in Contracting Act, I believe we need some real sunshine on this. The fact is, we are going to spend another $150 million. If the Defense Department would guarantee me that we are not going to spend more than another $100 million to get a travel system that we own, not licensed, but we own, since we are going to pay $650 million for something that should have cost $150 million, then I would be happy to withdraw this amendment. But you cannot get an assurance out of the Pentagon what the cost is going to be because there is not any end in sight in the cost.…”