Denouncing “greedy” vendors who “[sneak] unreasonably high prices,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has joined a bipartisan push to tame price-gouging by military contractors.
The legislation, dubbed the “Transparency in Contract Pricing Act of 2025,” would require contractors to provide a reason if the cost of spare parts in so-called “sustainment contracts” jumps by more than 25%.
Warren, D-Mass, was joined on the legislation by fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst.
“Greedy contractors are threatening our military readiness by sneaking unreasonably high prices into our military’s contracts for basic materials or spare parts,” Warren said in a statement.
The legislation “puts these contractors on notice and requires them to justify major price increases — and they can bet we’ll double-check their math to ensure we are getting a fair shake,” Warren, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
The legislation was prompted by revelations in an October 2024 report by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General that found defense titan Boeing had taken the U.S. Air Force for a ride on spare parts.
That included a 7,943% markup for soap dispensers installed on Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane, the lawmakers said.
In 2011, the government awarded Boeing a 10-year, $11.8 billion sole-source contract for spare parts. That was followed by a $23.8 billion contract in 2021, according to the audit.
The Pentagon’s watchdog reviewed 46 spare parts for the hulking jet and found that the Air Force didn’t pay “fair and reasonable prices” for 12 spare parts, or 26%, at a value of $4.3 million, according to Bloomberg Government.
The Pentagon’s inspector general couldn’t determine whether the service branch had paid fair prices for 25 spare parts valued at $22.2 million, according to Bloomberg.
In a statement, Boeing told Bloomberg that the report was based “on an inapt comparison of the prices paid for parts that meet military specifications and designs versus basic commercial items that would not be qualified or approved for use on the C-17.”
Ernst, a veteran of Iowa’s Army National Guard, argued that “defense dollars should be spent on making our military the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen, not padding the pockets of slick government contractors.”
As it’s currently written, the legislation also would require contractors to report price increases to the U.S. Department of Defense’s contracting officers within 30 days of becoming aware of such an increase.
The bill has the backing of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan advocacy group, which called the bill a way to “[shed] light on skyrocketing prices and contractors who fail them as required by law.”
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