An Inclusive Litany

3/19/98

Over a decade after it was ridiculed for paying $640 for a toilet seat, the Pentagon was still found to be paying too much for supplies. An audit by the Inspector General noted $76 set-screws that should have cost 57 cents each, a $47 electrical bell marked up to $714, a screw thread insert previously priced at 29 cents for an inflated price of $5.41, and $403 for a $25 actuator sleeve. The audit concluded that too often, the Pentagon had failed to exercise its bargaining power.