Renae Merle reports in the Washington Post that no-bid contracts for the delivery of armored vehicles to troops in Iraq may have led to needless delays that may have cost lives. The Marine Corps issued $416.7 million in contracts to Force Protection of Ladson, S.C., even though other vendors were available. The contracts continued even through the company didn't meet delivery schedules for getting the vehicles to Iraq. In one case, Force Protection failed to deliver 98 percent of 122 mine-resistant vehicles (that's 119.56 vehicles) in time, despite getting $6.7 million from the Marines to upgrade their factories. In another case, 60 percent of 233 vehicles from Force Protection were more than 30 days behind schedule. But the Marines declined to collect late fees of $6.6 million because the company had "cash flow problems" and collecting the money would have cause the company "financial difficulty."

Sad thing is, that's our money and those are our kid's lives.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Hat tip to Iraqslogger