Washington, December 22: President Barack Obama on Monday touted a plan to cut back on wasteful spending on federal government contractors, a plan he said is on track to save 40 billion dollars per year by 2011.
“Between 2002 and 2008, the amount spent on government contracts more than doubled. The amount spent on no-bid, non-competitive contracts jumped by 129 percent. This is an inexcusable waste of money,” Obama said.
Shortly after taking office in January, Obama set a goal for federal agencies to save up to 40 billion dollars per year in contracting costs by 2011.
Since then, “24 departments have identified more than 19 billion dollars in savings for this year alone,” he said.
“Over the past six months, agencies have been making cuts by looking for better deals, by ending contracts and doing work in house, and by opening up no-bid contracts to competitive bidding,” he added.
“Because of these efforts, I’m proud to announce today that we are on track to meet our goals.”
The US budget deficit is projected to reach a whopping 1.502 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010, according to White House forecasts.
Obama has vowed to halve the deficit by 2013, the end of his first term in office.
–Agencies