Boeing C-17 Soap Dispensers Cost 80 Times More Than in Shops (1)

The US Air Force paid more than 80 times the commercially available cost for lavatory soap dispensers on the Boeing Co. C-17 military transportation aircraft, the Pentagon’s inspector general said in a newly released audit of spare parts.

The Air Force paid a 7,943% markup for soap dispensers whose function “is identical, whether used in a residential kitchen or bathroom, commercial restaurant bathrooms, or in an aircraft lavatory,” the IG said in the report. As a result the service overpaid almost $150,000 for these dispensers, the report concluded.

The watchdog initiated the investigation as a result of allegations made ...