Treasury Department to Pay Significant Costs to Manage Financial Bailout

(MoneyWatch)  We had written in the past about the U.S. Treasury Department having to hire contractors to help manage the TARP financial bailout passed by Congress last year. Now The Wall Street Journal reports on the costs incurred to do this. The Department predicts that by the end of this month they will have obligated over $27 million dollars to pay for the salaries, space and equipment for these contractors. This represents an almost 400% increase since December. Compared to the total amount of money being managed these costs seem reasonable, but it is a demonstration again of how much professional services can cost governments when they turn to contractors. The Treasury Department felt that it needed to do this as they did not possess enough internal resources to manage this program.