Payment of Kickbacks by Subcontractors and Purchasing System Weaknesses at Raytheon Company's Microwave and Tube Division, Waltham, Massachusetts

Three subcontractors admitted paying an estimated $125,000 in kickbacks to the buyer for the Raytheon Company, Microwave and Power Tube Division, Microwave Tube Operation, in return for purchase orders placed in support of negotiated Department of Defense (DOD) contracts awarded to Raytheon. The three subcontractors admitted paying kickbacks to the Raytheon buyer from about 1962, 1970, and 1971, respectively, until April 1975.

About $46,000 of the $125,000 paid to the Raytheon buyer by the subcontractors may be recoverable on behalf of the United States. This is the amount which can be documented as kickbacks paid from 1970 through April 1975 related to negotiated government prime contracts. Much of the documentation for the period prior to 1970 was destroyed by the time of the review of the case. Inadequacies in some company procurement policies and procedures, failure to follow others, and general inattention by Raytheon's management to its purchasing operation contributed to the creation of an environment in which the kickbacks were paid for 13 years.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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