A $191 million question

Theirs was a cozy relationship, and they worked in a world where such cozy relationships are officially frowned upon. Raymond, now 61, was the director of a technology program for the U.S. Army, and Campbell, now 47, was a favored contractor. As they grew close, the lines between their public duties and private lives blurred, drawing them into a morass of ethical and legal allegations surrounding government contracts worth up to $191 million.

The tale of their four-year relationship is an allegory for the chronic problems afflicting the government's $532 billion procurement system. Reforms a decade ago, intended to make the system more efficient and entrepreneurial, had unintended consequences: insufficient oversight, conflicts of interest, unprecedented outsourcing and an endlessly revolving door that leads government officials into the offices of contractors.

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