Tracking Katrina money

[buttmunch]

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Trying to track who's getting what
portion of the billions of dollars (euros) in federal
Hurricane Katrina aid is enough to give any auditor a
headache - and is a problem that critics say creates
alarming gaps in public oversight.
The database of contracts is incomplete. Information
released by federal agencies is spotty and sporadic. And
disclosure of many no-bid contracts isn't required by law.
"On any given day, the government is spending millions of
taxpayer dollars, but we simply have no visibility on these
purchases," said Christopher Yukins, a contracting law
professor at George Washington University. "They just buy
from the same person year after year."
Under federal election law, a click of a mouse traces
every campaign donation. Yet no comprehensive public
database exists for federal contracts.
Both Republican and Democratic critics long have bemoaned
the dearth of contract information available. Some say it
violates the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA), the federal
law giving the public the right to access most information
held by agencies. Others say it creates barriers to rooting
out cronyism and waste.
That call is intensifying as the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) pledged last week to rebid
millions of dollars (euros) of federal contracts that were
handed out with little or no competition.
President George W. Bush "should announce now that he
wants the FOIA applied in advance to all documents for
Katrina recovery programs," said Mark Tapscott, a director
at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Federal law requires that agencies disclose contract
awards, typically via one of two government-sponsored
databases. But through loopholes, waivers of contract rules
and technical glitches, information is omitted or can go
unreported for months.
The omissions since Katrina struck include a $236 million
(-195.2 million) contract with Carnival Cruise Lines to
provide housing for evacuees that lawmakers have criticized
as wasteful, and open-ended contracts with Intelsat and
Bechtel Corp. awarded partly because of their prior
relationships with the government.
They also include emergency supplies and equipment
procured by federal employees using government-issued
credit cards with purchase limits of $250,000 (-206,800).
The White House since has reduced the limit to $15,000
(-12,400), while details of the contract deals were
eventually disclosed by the companies.
The concerns have prompted several bills, including
versions by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat,
and Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, that would
require full disclosure of contract awards in one
centralized database. The aim is to improve accountability
by providing information such as contract terms, a
contractor's past history of spending abuse or political
ties.
"An easily accessible and transparent database of
contract information will bring sunshine into the confusing
and sometimes shadowy practice of government contracting,"
said Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who plans
hearings to determine how the government can better track
its spending.
Some of the problems:
-The government Web site devoted to disclosing all agency
contracts in compliance with federal law currently lacks
Katrina information from the Army Corps of Engineers and
FEMA - the two agencies awarding the most contracts -
because of time delays and other glitches.
-The Web site for contract offers has little Katrina
information because disclosure requirements were initially
waived for the disaster.
-Because only new contracts must be disclosed, agencies
need not reveal information when awarding no-bid work to
politically connected companies such as Halliburton
subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root that have pre-existing
government contracts. Vice President Dick Cheney headed
Halliburton from 1995 to 2000.
Responding to initial criticism, Army Corps and FEMA
officials say they will strive to post weekly updates of
awards on their Web sites. Other agencies, such as the
Defense Department, are issuing daily contract
announcements or submit their data to the government
databases.
"We're committed to making that information available,"
said Larry Orluskie, a spokesman for the Department of
Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA.
But a Government Accountability Office audit last month
found the primary database, known as the Federal
Procurement Data System, was inaccurate and incomplete,
citing in part repeated delays by the Pentagon in switching
to a new system that would allow the department to report
its awards in real time.
"In the absence of timely and accurate data, that makes
effective oversight more difficult," said Bill Woods, a
director at GAO, the investigative arm of U.S. Congress.
Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common
Sense, spent a week trying to put together an authoritative
list of contracts and found himself checking no less than a
half-dozen agency sites and sources, many of which posted
conflicting if not inaccurate information.
Among his findings: a FEMA contract with Red River
Computer Co. of Lebanon, New Hampshire, for 1,000 Gateway
M460G XGA laptops at a total cost of $1,457,200
(-1,205,500) - or $1,456 (-1,200) per machine. On the
Gateway Website, the computers sell for $1,151 (-950) each,
a price that would have saved taxpayers $306,200
(-253,300).
"I have better things to do than hunting around for where
the money is hidden," Ashdown said. "We would rather the
government be doing this, creating a one-stop shop. Is that
really too much to ask?"
Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project on Government
Oversight, said his group compiled its own database of
contractors with a history of spending waste or other
misconduct and said some of the culprits - politically
connected Fluor, Bechtel and Halliburton - were among the
biggest initial winners of Katrina contracts.
None of that information can be found on government lists.
---
On the Net:
Taxpayers for Common Sense: http://www.taxpayer.net/
Project on Government Oversight: http://www.pogo.org/