Hurricane cleanup contracts under scrutiny - Americas - International Herald Tribune
Hurricane cleanup contracts under scrutiny - Americas - International Herald Tribune: "Topping the U.S. government's list of costs related to Hurricane Katrina are the $568 million contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to the Republican governor in Mississippi. Near the bottom is an $89.95 bill for a pair of steel-toed shoes that an Environmental Protection Agency worker bought in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The first detailed tally of commitments from U.S. agencies since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast four weeks ago shows that more than 15 contracts exceed $100 million, including five of $500 million or more. Most of those huge contracts were for clearing away the trees, homes and cars strewn across the region, purchasing trailers and mobile homes or providing trucks, ships, buses and planes.
More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion worth of contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited competition, government records show, provoking concerns about favoritism or abuse. Already, questions have been raised about the political connections of two major contractors - the Shaw Group and Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - which have been represented by Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the agency.
'When you do something like this, you do increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement,' said Richard Skinner, the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department, who has 60 members of his staff examining Katrina contracts. 'We are very apprehensive about what we are seeing so far.'
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The first detailed tally of commitments from U.S. agencies since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast four weeks ago shows that more than 15 contracts exceed $100 million, including five of $500 million or more. Most of those huge contracts were for clearing away the trees, homes and cars strewn across the region, purchasing trailers and mobile homes or providing trucks, ships, buses and planes.
More than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion worth of contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited competition, government records show, provoking concerns about favoritism or abuse. Already, questions have been raised about the political connections of two major contractors - the Shaw Group and Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton - which have been represented by Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the agency.
'When you do something like this, you do increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement,' said Richard Skinner, the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department, who has 60 members of his staff examining Katrina contracts. 'We are very apprehensive about what we are seeing so far.'
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