Doesn't this new Washington Post article (not to mention the Washington Times one beneath it) help explain why there's a peculiar reluctance among some to acknowledge the potential value of competitive prize offerings [http://www.spaceprojects.com/prizes ] as a means of procurement?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49287-2002Oct18.html

"A former Pentagon agency director and his top aide were charged yesterday with extortion and bribery for allegedly demanding payoffs, prostitutes and expensive watches in exchange for government contracts. Robert L. Neal Jr. headed the Defense Department's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization from 1996 to June 2001, and Francis D. Jones Jr. was his executive assistant. In a 52-page affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria yesterday, federal agents said the two men instructed contractors to make payments to companies friendly to Neal and Jones to obtain or maintain lucrative federal jobs. The money would then be laundered through a sham company or a secret trust in the small principality of Liechtenstein, the affidavit said... The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization was created to help small and minority businesses obtain defense contracts. The office awards few contracts, but it exerts influence within the Pentagon, officials said... The office also directly controlled $28 million annually for the Mentor-Protege Program, in which small businesses find a large Defense Department contractor to serve as a partner and receive both training and contracts. One small business in the program told investigators that in 1997 and 1998, Neal and Jones demanded several payments of $8,000 to $15,000, "or they would take certain adverse actions or cease taking helpful actions" for the participant's company, according to Stroot's affidavit."

Here's an addition from the Washington Times ( http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20021019-77594800.htm ):

"Mr. Neal has been awarded the Secretary of Defense's Outstanding Public
Service Medal and Outstanding Achievement Award, the OMB's Special
Performance Awards, OMB's EEO Award and OMB's Divisional Awards for Special
Performance."