“THE PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT (POGO
PENTAGON REVOLVING DOOR DATA BASE
https://www.pogo.org/database/pentagon-revolving-door/
“Defense contractors that hired former Pentagon officials received over $89.3 billion in contract obligations from the Pentagon during fiscal year 2021. In the three years POGO has maintained the Pentagon Revolving Door Database, we have identified at least 170 companies hiring a total of 479 former senior Pentagon officials and officers.”
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The effects of high-ranking Pentagon officials revolving to the private sector with such high frequency cannot be overstated. First, the practice can lead to corporate favoritism and inefficient spending. A startling figure highlighted by the Costs of War Project is the consolidation of contracts going to the country’s top defense contractors, where “one-quarter to one-third of all Pentagon contracts in recent years have gone to just five major weapons contractors: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.” Lockheed Martin, the top federal contractor, received an astonishing $75 billion in defense contracts in fiscal year 2020 alone. This revenue is over one and a half times the entire budget of both the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development. And Lockheed Martin’s now-infamous F-35 fighter jets, which are known for their major designs flaws, are estimated to cost taxpayers a staggering $1.727 trillion over the program’s lifespan. Collectively, the top five companies received over $286 billion during fiscal years 2019 and 2020 alone. Despite many instances of these defense contractors overbilling the federal government, designing faulty systems, and knowingly polluting the environment, these very same firms continue to rake in billions in taxpayer dollars.
THE FEDERAL CONTRACTOR MISCONDUCT DATA BASE
https://www.contractormisconduct.org/
About FCMD
“POGO has compiled this Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD) because current government databases do not provide the information necessary to make a genuine determination of whether a contractor is responsible or risky.“
“Why It’s Needed
Although, the General Services Administration (GSA) has the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), it only provides information about suspended or debarred individuals and contractors. Furthermore, very few large contractors have been suspended or debarred over the years. The GSA’s federal contractor and grantee responsibility database, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), includes a narrower range of misconduct than the FCMD.
With federal contract dollars growing rapidly since 2000, POGO hopes that the FCMD will be used by government officials to make well-informed contracting decisions. Additionally, POGO hopes that the FCMD will be used by Congress, the media, and the public when reviewing a contractor’s history of responsibility.
What It Contains
POGO’s FCMD is a compilation of misconduct and alleged misconduct committed by the top federal government contractors from 1995 to the present. Acts occurring earlier are included only if they were resolved after January 1, 1995, or are still pending.
We do not claim to have identified every instance of actual or alleged misconduct involving the contractors in the FCMD. The total number of misconduct instances and penalty amounts might be understated due to the fact that the terms of settlements are often undisclosed or the settlement amounts are only estimates. Such instances generally feature an “unknown” or “undisclosed” designation or a zero ($0) monetary penalty.
We have attempted to find and categorize specific instances of misconduct. Whenever possible, POGO uploads primary source documentation in PDF format. POGO has tirelessly scanned the Internet and utilized the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to find these primary sources. Although legal terminology is sometimes used in describing misconduct, the FCMD is not a legal document.
Sources
The following sources were consulted and have been provided where applicable:
Federal agency press releases and reports (including reports and releases from Inspectors General, U.S. Attorneys, Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO))
State agency press releases and reports
Federal and state court documents and pleadings
Company press releases
Law firm press releases
Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests
Media reports
FCMD History
This is the third version of POGO’s FCMD. In 2002, POGO produced the first version of the database, which examined 43 contractors. POGO’s new and improved FCMD has several key new features: a redesigned, easy-to-use interface, new instances of misconduct, and an expanded list of contractors.
Many contractors in the FCMD are holdovers from 2002. For example, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Raytheon remain at or near the top of the ranking in terms of contract dollar amounts and misconduct instances. Others, such as TRW and Litton, have since been acquired by or merged into other contractors. A few others, such as United Space Alliance and UT-Battelle, are joint ventures between two or more contractors, some of which appear elsewhere in the database.
Contractor misconduct that is not included in POGO’s FCMD can be reported to contractormisconduct@pogo.org “
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