Boeing Withdraws Some of Its Bills to Defense Dept.

WASHINGTON —  Boeing Co., stung by publicity about its billing practices, has withdrawn its request for Pentagon reimbursement of more than $300,000 in political and other contributions and has pulled back for review millions of dollars of other charges.

A Boeing spokesman said that the political contributions were billed to the Pentagon by mistake and that the action conflicted with a written agreement between the company and the Defense Department.

Earlier, however, the company told reporters that such expenses were routinely billed to the government as legitimate community relations or public relations costs to be added to the price tags of Boeing-built military aircraft and weapons systems.

Boeing intends to resubmit the bulk of its overhead claims to the Pentagon for payment following an internal examination of the charges, company spokesman Craig Martin said.

But Boeing will not press for payment on $304,936 in bills from 1982 through 1984 for contributions, many of them to political candidates and organizations.

Federal acquisition regulations state that “contributions and donations are unallowable.”

Martin said Boeing will continue to seek payment from the government for contributions to so-called voter-interest groups attempting to influence legislation on issues of interest to Boeing.

The Pentagon press office, in a written statement, said the Defense Department has not paid any of the Boeing billings that have been questioned by auditors “and now understands that Boeing has withdrawn them.”

Defense Department officials have promised members of Congress that, when the overhead claims are resubmitted, “they will be closely reviewed for unallowable costs, including contributions and donations.”

The Boeing spokesman said he did not know when the company’s review of its overhead charges would be completed. And he said he did not know--and could not say if he did--how much money was involved.

Although Boeing would not reveal the overhead costs, the magnitude of such billings can be seen in the Pentagon’s recent order impounding $30 million in overhead charges each month for General Dynamics, the nation’s largest defense contractor, pending a review of questionable claims.

Boeing was the nation’s fifth-largest defense contractor, based on $4.4 billion in defense contracts, in fiscal 1983, the latest year for which figures are available.