"That's weird," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight. "Where's the checks and balances?"
The audit agency has been in the news this year because of its criticism of Halliburton, the Houston oil services giant that's been the target of inquiries into its billings. But prying Halliburton audits loose hasn't been easy.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), the leading Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, asked for a Halliburton audit in January. Ten days later, the Pentagon told Waxman's staff he needed a letter from the committee's Republican chairman, Virginia Rep. Thomas M. Davis.
A relentless critic of contracting decisions on Iraq, Waxman persuaded Davis to send the letter. Six weeks after Waxman's original request, the audit and a related memo arrived.
In March, Waxman and Davis asked for all the Halliburton audits performed since Jan. 1. They received a batch in June.
"A lot of bad things could be prevented if there were greater accountability and transparency," said Waxman, who favors publicizing audit summaries.
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As the C-130J purchase suggests, potential problems that auditors spot can stay buried for years in documents whose existence may be inscrutable beyond the circles of government weapons buyers and contractors.
The C-130J audit memos had been sent up the chain of command as the cost of each plane, an updated model of a military workhorse, climbed from $33.9 million to $49.7 million. The Air Force has contracted for 117 planes, including more-expensive stretch versions, at a total cost of $7.45 billion through 2008.
Under a streamlining program started by the Clinton administration, the Pentagon classified the C-130J acquisition as "commercial."
The commercial label freed Lockheed, the nation's largest defense contractor, from the normal audit regimen that verifies prices, even though the C-130J had no competitor. Lockheed spokespersons said the commercial approach saved taxpayers more than $2 billion by simplifying oversight, reducing paperwork and the like, while the company invested in upgrades.
During the late 1990s, however, auditors and employees of the Defense Contract Management Agency had expressed strong doubts about the purported savings on the planes, according to the memos, which were recently obtained by The Times.
