Navy Bills

Screwdriver: $780 or $45

For years, weapons makers have often charged the Navy--and the Army and the Air Force--exorbitant prices for even the simplest of spare parts. But goaded by horror stories in the press, the military has begun to crack down. The latest list of examples was announced last week by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman.

For a small screwdriver used to adjust gyroscopes, General Electric had charged the Navy $780 apiece. New price: $45. For a rubber nose pad on a torpedo, Aerojet-General had charged the Navy $381. New price: $7.50. For a two-foot fiberglass cover for the radarscope of an A-6 bomber, Grumman had charged the Navy $1,800. New price: $60.

Lehman said such "ridiculous" examples of overpricing were "unusual," but announced that the Navy would review the pricing of each of the 2.1 million items in its spare-part inventory. He offered only mild condemnation of those who perpetrated the ripoffs: "We have not found any criminal intent, but the companies should have known the prices were unreasonable." He blamed the overpricing on "clericalization," which he said meant "no single person is responsible for it." The cure, he said, was more competition for contracts. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.