Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

NEWS ABOUT: government contracts

Secret Service Pays Biden Rent

Total it has forked over since April: $13K

(Newser) - Joe Biden is the vice president ... and due to a strange arrangement with the Secret Service, he's also a federal contractor. The Secret Service pays Biden to stay in a rental cottage adjacent to his Delaware home. Since April, Biden has collected $13,000 in rent, and he could... More »

Congress: US Wasting Billions in War on Drugs

Pair of reports blast counter-narcotics spending in Latin America

(Newser) - The Obama administration has essentially no evidence that the billions spent combating the drug trade in Latin America have done anything to stem the flow of narcotics into the US, according to a pair of scathing new congressional reports. “We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a... More »

Decoding DC's Strange Ads

Turns out many of them are aimed at policymakers, not you

(Newser) - Commute around Washington, DC, for a while, and you’ll notice a plethora of mystifying advertisements: A bus ad reading, “WE DON’T MAKE UAVs”; a radio ad touting a company’s “GCE Solution”; a mysterious subway ad with just one clue, the acronym “ISR.” You... More »

CIA Boss Defends $100M Blackwater Contract

'We need the security,' says Panetta

(Newser) - Despite criminal charges against former Blackwater security guards, CIA chief Leon Panetta has passionately defended a new $100 million contract with the controversial company. "We've got to have security," Panetta tells ABC News . “Unfortunately, there are a few companies that provide that kind of security. The State... More »

Blackwater Bilked US Out of $55M for Iraq Security: Audit

Company didn't provide enough workers

(Newser) - The US overpaid Blackwater by $55 million for its security work in Iraq, a government audit has found. The company, since renamed Xe, didn't employ enough guards, medics, and other personnel to protect high-level officials but still collected full payment from the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. "... More »

Don't Let 'Waste' Taunts Prompt More Waste

Obama shouldn't scrap chopper deal just to appease McCain

(Newser) - Fearful of appearing wasteful, the Defense Department wants to dump a contract for new presidential helicopters and start fresh—but that means losing $4 billion already spent on the project. It’s the same old story when it comes to “wasteful procurement,” writes Gail Collins in the New ... More »

Obama Puts Brakes on Contractors

Bush's 'market-based' government hasn't been cheaper or better

(Newser) - President Obama slipped an important policy change under the radar last week, saying government needs to make “a real choice between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe, and those that are designed to make a defense contractor rich.” Thomas Frank was listening, and he... More »

Obama Targets Gov't Contract Fraud, Waste

Vows to save money

(Newser) - Barack Obama today announced a plan to clean up waste in federal contracts, a set of reforms he believes will save taxpayers up to $40 billion a year, the Washington Post reports. Flanked by spending hawks John McCain and Carl Levin, Obama said his budget manager is drafting “dramatic”... More »

Ex-CIA Exec Gets 37 Months for Peddling Contracts

(Newser) - A former CIA official who steered contracts toward a friend in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, was sentenced today to 37 months in prison, the Washington Post reports. Kyle Foggo was, at the time, the CIA’s executive director, the agency’s third-highest position. In exchange for lavish dinners... More »

Too-Speedy Bailout Spending May Squander Billions

Auditors understaffed for behemoth task, leaving field open to shifty contractors

(Newser) - If new federal bailout funds are spent too quickly, billions could be wasted because the government administrative staff may be too overburdened to provide adequate oversight, warn budget experts. Billions of dollars in government money were squandered by private contractors who overcharged the Bush administration, according to a government report.... More »

Peanut Corp. Banned From Federal Work

Salmonella outbreak shows lack of integrity, honesty: USDA

(Newser) - The Peanut Corporation of America was barred today from government contracts for a year as the criminal investigation into a deadly salmonella outbreak sourced to its Georgia plant gathers steam, Reuters reports. “The company lacks business integrity and business honesty,” steamed a Department of Agriculture spokesman. The PCA’... More »

Burris Ties to Blago Include Donations, Job for Wife

Senate aspirant no stranger to pay-to-play politics

(Newser) - Senate Democrats are lauding Roland Burris as a faithful public servant who happens to owe his appointment to a crooked governor, but the Illinois politician has some pretty close—perhaps suspect—ties to Blagojevich, the Chicago Tribune reports. Burris and affiliates in his lobbying firm contributed $20,000 to Blagojevich... More »

Sex, Ethics Scandal Rocks Interior Dept. Oil Agency

Probes reveal sex, drugs, improper dealings in 'culture of ethical failure'

(Newser) - It's not quite the Interior Department Gone Wild, but it's not that far off, either. A dozen current and former employees of the departmental agency that deals with oil and gas royalties have been accused of having sex with reps of the energy industry, illegally accepting gifts, using cocaine in... More »

Pentagon Delays $35B Tanker Deal for Next President

Environment too 'highly charged' for fair process; Boeing gets time to rework plan

(Newser) - The Pentagon has put a $35 billion contract for new Air Force refueling tankers on hold, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced today, reasoning that the White House didn’t have enough time left to “complete a competition that would be viewed as fair.” The contract was awarded to... More »

Pentagon's New Bid Rules Favor Northrop: Boeing

Bidding changes seen to justify previous decision

(Newser) - The Pentagon issued new criteria yesterday for the second round of bidding on its lucrative fuel-tanker contract, Bloomberg reports, and Boeing backers immediately cried foul. The new terms give bonus points to a plane that carries more fuel than the earlier guidelines, which Boeing officials and congressional allies claim favors... More »

Feds Lift Ban on IBM Contracts

IBM withdraws protest of lost EPA contract

(Newser) - The government Thursday lifted a week-old ban that prevented IBM from competing for new federal contracts. In exchange, IBM agreed to withdraw its protest of an $84 million contract with the EPA it lost last year, and to refund any attorney fees and costs the Government Accountability Office paid to... More »

IBM Banned from Gov't Contracts

Big Blue probed over alleged insider info that led to fat EPA deals

(Newser) - A US Attorney in Virginia has temporarily barred IBM from pursuing new government contracts while it investigates three 2006 IBM contracts with the EPA, MarketWatch reports. "The basic issue is whether certain information concerning a contract should have been provided to IBM employees by an EPA employee," said... More »

As Recession Looms, Google Looks to Uncle Sam

Web giant peddling Earth program in Washington

(Newser) - With an economic meltdown threatening its advertising business, Google is turning to Washington for a second revenue stream, MarketWatch reports. Google’s government contract business is still extremely small, but could become more important soon as the company tries to diversify, according to the division’s chief technologist. “The... More »

18 Stories
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne