Army O&M accounts hard to track. (Washington Pulse).

The most difficult-to-track pot of money in the Defense Department is the Army's operations and maintenance accounts, known as O&M, said a congressional analyst during a recent conference with defense contractors. O&M is a broad spending category that pays for everything from day-to-day combat operations to training and equipment maintenance. In fiscal 2002, for example, the Army's O&M funding is $23 billion. "You don't know who the people are who spend this money," the analyst told contractors. "It's like the black hole of Calcutta." The bottom line for contractors, he said, is that the money has to be spent by September 30, so companies seeking business opportunities in the spare-parts and after-market equipment business should get busy.