The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "procurement" ...
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A $191 Million Question
Waste, fraud and criminal activity plague the procurement budget, an expenditure that ballooned to $600 billion in 2007. The Post investigates the sources of the escalating costs and finds government and corporate ties to be appallingly mangled.
Tags: procurement; military; corporate; Washington; army; contracts; O'Harrow; contractor; technology program; manager; billion;
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SLICC Deal for Pentagon Brass, Pimp My Ride -- Air Force Edition,
In June 2008, sources came to the Project on Government Oversight about the Air Force wasting taxpayer funds. They presented documents and e-mails that raised questions about two little-known programs to build "world-class" luxury aircraft accommodations for the military and senior civilian leadership. The accommodations -- called SLICC (Snior Leader In-transit Conference Capsule) and SLIP (Senior Leader In-transit Pallet) -- were justified as filling a "deficiency gap," but e-mails obtained by POGO showed that there was significant internal dissent within the Air Force over this extravagant waste of taxpayers' funds. Requirements documents obtained by POGO emphasize the need for "aesthetically pleasing" accommodations. E-mails obtained by POGO state that Air Force generals upgraded the leather, carpet, and wood choices, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the program cost. After the first FLIP was procured, General Robert McMahon expressed dissatisfaction with the color of the seat leather and type of wood used. He directed that the leather be reupholstered from brown to Air Force blue leather, and requested to replace the wood originally used with cherry. Internal Air Force e-mails make it clear that the Air Force leadership's overriding concern us SLICC's level of luxury. Contract documents obtained by POGO revealed that these accommodations do not provide any additional operational capabilities (e.g. communications advantages) beyond those currently existing.
Tags: government spending; Air Force; SLICC; SLIP; misconduct; overspending
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War Profiteers?
This CBS 60 Minutes segment uses the story of two men with no experience who were awarded multi-million dollar contracts from the Provisional Coalition Authority in Iraq as a lead into the allegations of war profiteering by larger companies like Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Tags: Iraq; Afghanistan; Middle East; Green Zone; corruption; graft; fraud; kickbacks; bribery; waste; Army Rangers; breach of contract; Custer Battles; Scott Custer; Mike Battles; Ambassador Paul Bremer; Colonel Richard Ballard; Frank Willis; procurement; war profiteers; Coalition Provisional Authority; Coalition Authority's Ministry of Finance; Colonel Philip Wilkinson; Robert Isaacson; Cayman Islands; Justice Department; whistleblower lawsuit; Halliburton; Kellogg, Brown and Root; KBR; Senator Byron Dorgan; Special Inspector General Stuart Bowen;
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Mining For Dollars
The Arizona state mine inspector Doug MArtin had been indicted on charges of theft, fraud, and procurement code fraud. This report unveils the inspector's abuse of state tax dollars for his own personal well being, and that the inspector isn't even doing the job he was hired to do.
Tags: mining; tax fraud; government spending; theft; procurement code fraud; Doug Martin; inspector
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Your Schools, Your Money: Dallas school district credit card oversight lax
The Dallas Morning News found more than $6 million in unsupervised credit card purchases that violated state procurement laws or district purchasing contracts. Reporters also discovered hundreds of purchases that had nothing to do with educating kids.
Tags: schools; fraud; spending; credit card; CAR; spending oversight
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Blank Check
The reporters investigated the District of Columbia's use of funds which broke laws intended to prevent waste and fraud, by spending $425 million in 2004 in no-bid contracts or through a back door that skipped procurement law altogether.
Tags: fraud; spending; contracts; procurement law; expense accounts; accountability; FOIA
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Flawed Body Armor
U.S. Marine Corps purchased about 19,000 supposedly bullet-resistant protective body armor vests from production lots that were failed by government testers for production flaws that made them less resistant to bullets. The Corps sent more than 5,000 of those vests to troops in Iraq and recalled them just days before this story ran.
Tags: army; military; defense; war; federal government; government expenditure; safety; war; body armor vests; military procurement
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The High Price of Recruiting
This investigation revealed that Indiana University and Purdue University together spent more than $600.000 on procurement of football players in 2003-04. One recruit for IU was flown in a University-owned private jet--a flight that cost the school $11,656. No such incentives were made available to academic recruits.
Tags: college; sport; athlete; university; recruiting; football; Indiana University; Purdue University
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Fraud often brings light sentences: North America's white collar felons routinely get slap on wrist
In an analysis of data procured from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in Syracuse University, the News discovers how white collar professionals charged with felony are often let go with a slap on the wrist. Those convicted of simple drug possession, in the meanwhile, face disproportionately long sentences.
Tags: First Alabama Bank; James H. Hancock; Alice Martin; Judge U.W. Clemon
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Access Denied
Washington Technology magazines investigates how an industry organization that has been registered as a nonprofit, is totally run by a for-profit company that prefers to keep its competitors out of membership. The group is a Coalition for Government Procurement that represents companies holding contract schedules with the General Services Administration. And the company that effectively runs the CGP is Washington Management Group Inc. (WMG) that has indirectly violated IRS regulations governing nonprofits and antitrust laws by shutting out prospective members.
Tags: immixGroup; Steve Charles; Larry Allen; Hope Lane; Selbre Associates; Bill Blocher; Blocher & Associates