Audit reveals eye-watering amount the Pentagon spends on miscellaneous items like soap dispensers
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A Pentagon audit has uncovered that Boeing has overcharged the Air Force millions for spare parts on its C-17 cargo planes. The report found that the aerospace company charged up to an 10,000 percent markup for miscellaneous items, like basic bathroom soap dispensers, tape, screws and ventilation fans.
![[The Defense Department's Office of the Inspector General revealed that it launched its investigation into Boeing's rates after receiving an anonymous tip to their hotline. Among the irregularities they found: a 7,943 percent markup for bathroom soap dispensers (above)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/21/17/92338065-14110909-image-a-16_1732209568401.jpg)
The Defense Department's Office of the Inspector General revealed that it launched its investigation into Boeing's rates after receiving an anonymous tip to their hotline. DailyMail.com estimates based on the 'Total Boeing Purchase Contract Values' published within the Pentagon audit that the cumulative dollar amount of this overcharging from 2018 to 2022 would have cleared $4.2 million.
![[Boeing - which has already been credibly accused this year of myriad flight safety issues , and stranding two NASA astronauts in space - also up-charged the Air Force for protective tape by over 200 percent (201 percent) and ventilation fans by over 1,400 percent (1,425 percent)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/21/17/92338063-14110909-image-m-20_1732209613143.jpg)
It is the latest scandal to embroil Boeing, which has already been been accused this year of myriad flight safety issues, and stranding two NASA astronauts in space. And the news comes as billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk and past GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy promise to crackdown on wasteful federal spending via their new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
![[Above, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III engine components sit before maintenance operations at a Boeing support facility in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday, January 20, 2016]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/21/18/92342941-14110909-image-a-22_1732213409063.jpg)
Inspector General Robert Storch painted the exorbitant markups as a fundamental threat to US air superiority and national security. 'Significant overpayments[...] may reduce the number of spare parts that Boeing can purchase on the contract, potentially reducing C-17 readiness worldwide,' he said.
![[Above, a USAF C-17 carrying US troops arrives at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, Poland in 2022]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/21/18/92342939-14110909-image-a-21_1732213395763.jpg)
A Pentagon audit has uncovered that aerospace giant Boeing has overcharged the US Air Force millions for spare parts on its C-17 cargo planes. Above, an Air Force C-17, loaded with humanitarian aid and landing at Camilo Daza airport in Cucuta, Colombia, in February 16, 2019.
![[The most apparently egregious case of markup, per DoD, was for a simple 'machine screw,' for which Boeing had charged more than 10,319 percent the going rate. Prices for versions of this machine screw, made by Andover Corporation (above), show variation from $22 to $2,750]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/21/18/92343787-14110909-The_most_apparently_egregious_case_of_markup_per_DoD_was_for_a_s-a-24_1732214628122.jpg)
