Critics Demand Freeze on Renewal of Marine Corps Food Contract

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A congressional briefing that focused on rooting out waste from military service contracts today honed in on the Marines' Regional Garrison Food Service arrangement that, instead of saving taxpayers the promised 20% cost savings when it was signed eight years ago, has led to hundreds of millions in overruns. A briefing held earlier this week by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Under Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter called for reining in the Defense budget and focused on weapons systems, whereas today's briefing highlighted the importance of service contracts—which now make up more than half of the Department of Defense budget—to keep costs down.  

 The performance on the Marines contract "raises serious questions," said Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), chairman of the House Armed Services Acquisition Reform Panel.  

"When the vendor increases costs and passes them on to the taxpayer, it can avoid close scrutiny," Andrews said, calling on the Defense Department to delay renewing the expiring contract until it answers questions that he and others raised.  "Any taxpayer dollar that is spent on something worth only 80 cents is not a taxpayer dollar well spent. And I think that is what we are finding on this contract," he added.

The Marine Corps contracted with Sodexo USA, an affiliate of the French-owned global hospitality conglomerate, for $881 million in 2002 to provide food service at domestic bases. But costs on that contract jumped by 36 percent to at least $1.2 billion.

"These food service contracts expire at the end of this month. Currently the Marine Corps is reviewing bids, but that solicitation does not incorporate key lessons learned. Without closing the existing loopholes, how can we protect taxpayers from more unplanned spending?," said John Kang, an expert on contracting policies for the Service Employees International Union.

"There is a lack of transparency when it comes to federal contracting," added the general counsel for the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, Scott Amey.  "Modifications (to the contract) mean government changing on the fly," he said.  "We need to get away from the mindset that ignores cost overruns."

SOURCE Service Employees International Union

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