The US Air Force is paid handsomely for the C-17 bathroom soap dispenser

• The US Air Force has largely paid for C-17 spare parts, including bathroom soap dispensers, according to a Pentagon watchdog.
• The dispensers were 80 times more expensive than the commercially available alternative.
• The audit of C-17 parts purchases was done in response to a DoD hotline claim.

The US Air Force has overpaid for spare parts for a Boeing-made C-17 military transport plane, according to a new watchdog report. In one example, an audit found that the service was paying more than 80 times the usual commercial value for bath soap dispensers.

The audit, which detailed cost issues with a number of C-17 spare parts, blamed the overpayment on a lack of oversight by the Air Force.

On Monday, the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General released information about an audit of whether the Air Force purchased C-17 spare parts “at fair and reasonable prices.” The audit was initiated in response to a DoD hotline complaint.

The audit found that the Air Force “paid more than $1 million for a dozen different types of spare parts” in the contracts, the office said, including bathroom soap dispensers “where the Air Force paid more than 80 times the cost of commercially available or 7.943% note.”

Across the board, the bureau said the utility consistently failed to pay reasonable prices for about 26% of the replacement parts reviewed, worth $4.3 million.

But the OIG was unable to effectively review more than half of the total spare parts — estimated at more than $22 million in value — “because the Air Force did not maintain historical cost data and the Agency’s Item Group of Defense Contract Management was unable to obtain supplier quotes or identify similar commercial parts,” the office said.

The OIG attributed the overpayment problem to the Air Force’s failure to sufficiently validate accurate contract negotiation data, identify price increases during contract execution, and review invoices to determine fair and reasonable prior to payment .

“We are reviewing the report, which appears to be based on an inappropriate comparison of prices paid for parts that meet military specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not qualify or be approved for use on the C-17,” a Boeing. the spokesperson told Business Insider.

“We will continue to work with the OIG and the US Air Force to provide a detailed written response to the report in the coming days,” the spokesperson added.

According to Inspector General Robert P. Storch, Air Force issues may have an impact on C-17 readiness.

“The Air Force must establish and implement more effective internal controls to help prevent overpayments for spare parts for the remainder of this contract, which runs through 2031,” he said, adding that “the overpayments of for spare parts could significantly reduce the number of spare parts that Boeing can purchase on contract, potentially reducing the availability of the C-17 worldwide.”

The C-17 Globemaster III is a large, versatile aircraft designed to transport troops and equipment over various distances. It is the main strategic lift aircraft of the Air Force. It has also become a central aircraft in evacuation and humanitarian efforts, among other missions.