GAO: Weapon Systems Billions Over Budget, Years Behind Schedule

The Government Accountability Office has some tough words for the weapons builders paid with your tax dollars. [Washington Post]

A â��scathingâ�� GAO investigation found that â��dozens of the Pentagonâ��s biggest weapons systems… [including]... ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.â��

Let�s take a look at the study:

95: The number of �major� systems that have gone over budget

$295 billion: The total amount of money by which they�ve exceeded their original budgets

Two years: The average lateness of their delivery

Some examples:

The Navy�s $5.2 billion Littoral Combat Ship: �...Has had such extensive troubles that the service expects the cost of its first two ships to exceed their combined budget of $472 million by more than 100 percent.�

Modernizing avionics in C-130 cargo planes: The cost for the project from Boeing has skyrocketed 323 percent to $2 billion.

Lockheed Martin�s Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing�s Future Combat Systems: �The prices for those two [multi-billion dollar] programs have risen 36 percent and 40 percent, respectively, from the initial contracts.�

Why the insane cost overruns?

Well, according to the GAO, �there are too many programs chasing too few dollars; technologies are often not mature enough to go into production; and it takes too long to design, develop and produce a system.�

According to Steven L Schooner, co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University, defense contractors will often low-ball estimates when bidding for government contracts, and then, once they win them, the government �lacks the discipline� to hold them accountable.

The GAO also noticed that none of the systems met the â��standards for best management practicesâ�� during development. Hmm… no surprise there.

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