Boeing allegedly overcharged the military 8,000% for airplane soap dispensers
The government also isn’t sure if it paid 'fair or reasonable' prices for another 25 spare part orders.
Boeing is under federal scrutiny yet again, but this time it isn’t for midflight door malfunctions, faulty wheels, or makeshift lubricants. According to an audit released on October 29th by the Department of Defense, the beleaguered aircraft manufacturer allegedly up-charged the Air Force nearly 8,000 percent on spare soap dispensers for its fleet of C-17 cargo planes.
“The Air Force did not always pay reasonable prices… in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation,” the DoD Office of Inspector General claimed in its report on Tuesday. In particular, the audit cites an unknown number of lavatory components received at a “7,943 percent markup or more than 80 times the commercially available cost.”
By its own admission, the DoD considers the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III the “Air Force’s most flexible cargo aircraft to enter the airlift force.” A total of 222 C-17’s are currently deployed across the Air Force, Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve Command, which have utilized them in large scale military and humanitarian missions for 30 years. Since most of those missions involve long flights, however, it’s easy to see the importance of maintaining well-stocked, clean bathrooms.
Apart from the dispensers, the most recent audit of the military’s ongoing, $35.6 billion C-17 maintenance contract focused on 45 other spare part categories including toilets and toilet doors, protective tape, and window panels. Auditors deemed a sale “fair and reasonable” if there was a maximum 25 percent markup on any given item bulk order. In this case, the report only classified nine part orders totalling $20.3 million as fair and reasonable—from there, however, things apparently got murkier. The USAF “could not determine” if another 25 spare items that collectively cost the military $22.2 million were fairly priced, while $4.3 million was spent on 9 item orders judged “not… fair or reasonable.”
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