Feb. 6 (UPI) — An agency within the Pentagon lost track of more than $800 million, according to an internal audit revealed on Monday.
The Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency failed to document hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth in construction projects and equipment expenses over the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2016, according to the audit, which was conducted by Ernst & Young and first reported by Politico.
Misreported numbers for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects totaled at least $465 million, according to the audit. Another $384 million was categorized as “in progress” or lacked any documentation.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesman for DLA said the agency “concurs” with the findings and the agency’s “failure to properly account for and track funding to specific construction projects.”
“As part of DLA’s responsibility to achieve audit compliance, DLA has already taken steps to correct this shortcoming. As stewards of the American taxpayer’s dollars, our goal is to make significant progress towards compliance during the FY 2018 audit cycle,” the statement said.
The audit, which was completed in December, was the first of its kind for the DLA, which handles more than $40 billion per year.
“I expect we’ll see much more of these things as the audit process goes on,” Dan Grazier, a defense industry expert at the Project On Government Oversight, told CNBC. “There are a couple of auditing firms that are being hired to…check all the books and property records and those kind of things.
