The Washington Post is reporting on a congressional report which found that the Department of Homeland Security's (no-)bidding system is "prone to abuse." It's a good thing, then, that Congress is working on a bill that would create a searchable database of all federal government and contracts. Indeed, a database like this would make it easier to identify potential fraudsters. The multibillion-dollar surge in federal contracting to bolster the nation's domestic defenses in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been marred by extensive waste and misspent funds, according to a new bipartisan congressional report. Lawmakers say that since the Homeland Security Department's formation in 2003, an explosion of no-bid deals and a critical shortage of trained government contract managers have created a system prone to abuse. Based on a comprehensive survey of hundreds of government audits, 32 Homeland Security Department contracts worth a total of $34 billion have "experienced significant overcharges, wasteful spending, or mismanagement," according to the report, which is slated for release today and was obtained in advance by The Washington Post. Washington Post: Homeland Security Contracts Abused