ProgressiveDem: Another Failed Bushite Privatization Project
Another Failed Bushite Privatization Project
Add another failure to the long Bush regime list of privatization of government that relies on private contractors, feeding at the taxpayers' trough, whose cost and schedule overruns, failed end products and cover up lies by Bushite loyalist heads of politicized federal departmants and agencies have defrauded this nation.
This Bush administration MO is a hallmark of a criminal regime bound and determined to keep corporate cronies wallowing in federal funds.
The latest reported by the Washington Post: "An ambitious Bush administration program to use new technology to stop radioactive materials from being smuggled into the country has fallen far short of its aims and will likely be sharply curtailed, according to an audit report obtained by The Washington Post.
"The project, involving three contractors, has been embroiled in allegations that the department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office misled Congress about the testing, cost and effectiveness of the achines. Budget documents this year showed the cost to put the monitors at borders and ports would be far higher than the detection office originally estimated.
"The program has been delayed repeatedly after investigators turned up evidence that the detection office provided misleading cost estimates and inflated detection capabilities in a cost-benefit report to
Congress in 2006. Congress later required Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to certify the effectiveness of the machines before they could be widely deployed.
"The GAO audit is part of an ongoing review of the detection office's cost estimates. The review found that the cost to install and operate the machines in U.S. ports of entry -- based on the detection office's 2006 plan -- could be as high as $3.8 billion over a decade, about 81 percent higher than detection office estimates. The likely cost would be about $3.1 billion, the report said, about 48 percent higher than the office's estimates. The GAO concluded the detection office estimates were unreliable in part because they omitted major costs.
"The review found that contracts for the development of the machines "have already experienced unfavorable cost and schedule variances" since the contracts to three firms were awarded in July 2006. Contractors include Raytheon, Thermo Eberline and Canberra.
"A Homeland Security spokeswoman declined to discuss the report, saying the department had not had an opportunity to formally respond to it."
Just another example of seven years of lies, deliberate incompetence, placing corporate crony profits above country, intentional lack of regulation and oversight by the Bush regime.
Unfortunately, impeachment is still off the table.
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