Deficient Deficiencies

One of the members of our engineering group recently went to work for the government bureau that oversees shipbuilding. He basically walked from a desk in one building to another one a few hundred yards away. Some of the benefits offered by the government, particularly the retirement pension plan, are attractive, so I can't blame him for that. No hard feelings. I then became solely responsible for a lot of the work he had been doing. Some pretty significant problems popped up almost immediately after he left, so I had to take care of them. Taking care of them means figuring out what we were going to do, selling the idea to the Powers That Be in the Navy, and submitting the right paperwork.
The guy who left is now responsible for approving the documents I submit for the system he used to work on. This is standard practice in the military-industrial-congressional complex. At every step, though, on documentation for 7 separate ships, he has approved our submittal but noted a "technical deficiency". The only rationale provided is a comment: "Shipbuilder shall perform work as described in report". So, saying that we are supposed to do exactly what we said we were going to do is a technical deficiency? And now I have to answer to my superiors (who have been very understanding, fortunately) why I'm receiving "technical deficiencies" from the government. At this point, it seems as though the man is just cruelly casting stones at those who are doing his old job, getting a power trip out of being able to turn the screws down on people he used to know who have to do the work he would be doing if he hadn't bailed out.
This is enough to upset a man. But then I sit down, loosen my tie, relax a little bit, and let the music carry away my frustrations...