WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group in Congress — including U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia — is demanding an investigation into charges that the Pentagon pays exorbitantly high prices for everything from coffee pots to computers.

The group says purchases made through the Pentagon’s prime vendor program, the subject of an investigation published last month in The State, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars.

Clyburn said he was particularly upset by prime vendor markups, given the shortages suffered by American troops in Iraq.

He cited members of a South Carolina National Guard unit who last year refused to go on a potentially dangerous mission because their vehicles were not armored.

“We spent $20 for an ice cube tray. How can you justify doing that when you can’t purchase the materials people need to fight the war?” he said.

Clyburn and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., sent a letter Wednesday to the Defense Logistics Agency, the arm of the Defense Department that oversees the prime vendor program, demanding an explanation of its pricing.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., at House Republicans’ weekly meeting, asked Speaker Dennis Hastert to call on the Armed Services committee to investigate the Pentagon’s prime vendor program.

In fiscal 2005, the program accounted for $31 billion in military purchases.

Established a decade ago, the prime vendor program gives a select group of prime vendors — companies that act as middlemen between military bases and manufacturers — preference when the military makes a purchase.

The Pentagon says the program saves money, in that it cuts out several steps in the supply chain and eliminates the need for warehousing.

Critics, however, say it allows prime vendors to charge far more than the competition of the past would allow.

Officials at the Virginia-based Defense Logistics Agency, which oversees the program, were not available for comment Wednesday evening.

The State’s investigation examined a sample of 122 food service items purchased through the prime vendor program and found that the Pentagon on average paid 20 percent more than it had to.

It paid $81 for coffee pots that for years were bought from the manufacturer for $29. It paid $20 for a plastic scraper widely available for $11. It paid $887 for a microwave that can be bought elsewhere for $690.

“As we talk about cutting programs, and reducing spending, how can we let the Department of Defense get by with this abuse of taxpayers’ money?” Jones said. “You can pay 85 cents for an ice cube tray and the DOD is paying $20.”

“This kind of reckless spending is a perfect example of government waste,” Bayh said in a statement. “It is especially inexcusable in light of our current budget situation and our continued efforts to provide our troops with much-needed equipment in Iraq. Wasteful spending is bad enough, but during a time of war, it literally becomes a matter of life and death, and it must be stopped.”

Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com