Subsidizing Contractor Retirements?

The nonpartisan group Citizens Against Government Waste has gone on the warpath against the practices many agencies use in reimbursing major contractors for the retirement costs of their employees.

While most companies in recent decades have switched over from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, many contractors continue to bill the government for more traditional pensions, to the tune of $36.7 billion over 10 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The anti-waste nonprofit on Thursday released a report titled “Reduce Taxpayer Liability for Contractor Post-Retirement Benefits,” updating its efforts to use the Freedom of Information Act to learn each agency’s practices in this area. (Fourteen agencies so far, the only agency that publishes such information being the Energy Department.)

The dollars at stake are not insignificant. In fiscal 2010, the report said, Lockheed Martin, the largest government contractor, received $988 million in pension payments, followed by Raytheon at $666.6 million.