This is Planet Money from NPR.

So there's this company called Transdime.

It's in the business of selling spare parts for helicopters and planes. And one of the parts they sell is this half inch piece of

metal called a drive pin.

Several years ago the military needed some of these drive pins and it contracted with Transdime

to buy some.

But then in 2019, Pentagon officials reviewed the deal

and found Transdime would charge 4,361 dollars

for this one little drive pen that the Pentagon says should have cost only $46.

We reached out to Transdime for comment and they dispute the Pentagon's math.

They said the price they quoted at the time

was fair for this relatively specialized part.

Still, for a half inch piece of metal,

some might say that's kind of steep.

It doesn't seem right, does it? So I guess the real

question is how do you get from $46 to $4,300, right? That by the way was Phil

McManus. He wasn't involved in the Transdime deal, but he does know a thing or two about military spending because he used to work for the Defense Department negotiating deals with defense contractors.

Phil says this drive-pin story is a particular. negotiating deals with defense contractors.

Phil says this drivepin story is a particularly extreme example of the government overpaying

for military equipment, but it's far from the only one, and this is a problem.

If you overspend for what you do buy,

you can buy less of what you need.

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