WASHINGTON - A no-bid contract ballooned to 15 times over its initial estimate at the new Department of Homeland Security, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The 2003, $2 million contract with Booz Allen Hamilton had increased to more than $30 million by the end of 2004, the Post reported. Under a second no-bid contract the next year, the company was paid $73 million, the newspaper reported.

The McLean, Va., company provided employers for the new department's information analysis and infrastructure protection offices.

The Post reported that spending on government contracts often increases in part because the federal workforce that oversees contracts hasn't kept up with an increase in contractors.

In the case of the Homeland Security contract, the department's chief procurement officer, Elaine Duke, told the Post that the second contract was necessary to keep vital intelligence operations running.

Booz Allen Vice President Jack Mayer told the Post that his company's bill increased as the department called upon it to do more.

"What happened was the hours that people were working," he said. "It wasn't Booz Allen's fault."

copyright © 2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.