Democrats cite no-bid Katrina contracts

The government awarded 70 percent of its contracts for Hurricane Katrina work without full competition, wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the process, says a House study released Thursday by Democrats.

The report, a comprehensive overview of government audits on Katrina contracting, found that out of $10.6 billion in contracts awarded after the storm last year, more than $7.4 billion were handed out with limited or no competitive bidding.

In addition, 19 contracts worth $8.75 billion were found to have wasted taxpayer money at least in part, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report. It cited numerous instances of double-billing by contractors and cases of trailers meant as emergency housing sitting empty in Arkansas.

 

A spokesman for the DHS responds in Michael Chertoff's usual nasty manner:

"At the height of hurricane season, it is a disservice to FEMA employees, who are working around the clock to continue retooling this agency."

 

And how many months passed before the beginning of this hurricane season in which FEMA could have been retooled?  Wouldn't that have been wiser?  Instead DHS is saying, "STFU".

The Bushies have ordered the American people to not question them time after time.  What's once more?

In their report, Democrats acknowledged that some no-bid contracts were necessary to provide quick aid in the immediate aftermath of the August 29, 2005, storm. But they noted that while 51 percent of Katrina contracts awarded in September were limited or no-bid, that percentage increased to 93 percent in October.

Last December, FEMA was still awarding 57 percent of the total dollar value of contracts without full bidding.

"It is apparent that taxpayers and the residents of the Gulf Coast are paying a steep price for the failure to stop waste, fraud and abuse in federal contracting," said Rep. Henry Waxman ...D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee.

In the House report, Democrats faulted FEMA for recently awarding new $400 million temporary housing contracts for future disaster work to Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Bechtel National, CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Enterprises Inc.

...

Those four companies have previously been criticized by lawmakers for receiving no-bid Katrina contracts. Three of them — Bechtel, CH2M Hill and Fluor — were found by government auditors to have wasted money in the hurricane effort.

tags: gulf coast  katrina  mississippi  louisiana  new orleans  rebuilding  government waste  bush  bush administration  

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