Pentagon Contracts Given to Single Bidders

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- Only a little more than one-third of the $900 billion in Pentagon contract grants over the past six years were awarded after full and open competitive bidding, a private watchdog group reported Wednesday.

The Center for Public Integrity found that a majority of Defense Department contracts were awarded either to single bidders on a sole source basis or to a contractor that had prevailed over a set of competitors limited by government regulations.

The study examined Defense Department records of more than 2.2 million contract actions between Oct. 1, 1997, and Sept. 30, 2003. During that period, more than half the Pentagon's budget was given to contractors.

Pentagon contracting has become an issue in the presidential election as a result of the experience of Halliburton, a Houston-based energy and construction company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pentagon-contracting,0,3402667.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines