Posted on 08/24/2006 1:56:57 PM PDT by Thrusher
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.
Aaron Walker, a national spokesman for the Homeland Security Department's Federal Emergency Management Agency, the primary agency for awarding hurricane contracts, said FEMA was already working to improve its contracting process based on "previously issued, non-politicized, reports."
"This report has no new revelations," he said. "At the height of hurricane season, it is a disservice to FEMA employees, who are working around the clock to continue retooling this agency."
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.
The report came as House Democrats announced a new six-member "truth squad" they said would highlight the problems before the November congressional elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
/sarc
The Democrats would have taken bids, then awarded it to their Democratic minority buddies, who would fail to show up for work. So what's the big deal about here?
Democrats would rather people suffer as long as their bureaucracy is obeyed. Bidding government contracts can take a long time.
But wait, Democrats attacked Bush for not moving fast enough on the Katrina rebuilding, now they wanted the 60-90 day delays that come with the bidding processes?? Another example of Dems. attacking the president if he does one thing, attacking if he does the opposite. Sorry loons, you can't have it fast with a bidding process, so decide what you prefer, fast or cheaper. Idiots.
How much longer would it have taken to get the work started had the full bid process route been taken?
Then of course the libs would be whining about how the Administration has been dragging it's feet in the reconstruction effort by not taking advantage of the short cuts available in contract letting in an emergency..
I don't know about you, but I remember when conservatives were against government waste.
Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, Jack Murtha, Jim McDermott, Charles Rangell and John Dingell - The Super-Truthy Six.
Jeez!
How long does the government take to mail out, evaluate and award bids?
90 Days?
120 Days?
By the time the Bottled Water Delivery bid came back, everyone would have already died of thirst!
My brother works for Shaw Group, a company which won a large number of contracts. What the Democrats think of Halliburton and the Republicans, Shaw actually is to the Democrat Party and Hurricane Katrina contracts. The CEO of Shaw is a big wig in the Louisiana Democrat Party. They contributed tons to Blank-O. If they got a lot of no bid contracts, it was the Democrats giving them out.
Speed, quality, price. Pick any two.
So we should have waited on the rescue and rebuilding, leaving poor blacks in the devastation, while the bidding process dragged on?
That's HILLARYARIOUS!
oops
Isnt that the hezbocrat truth squad
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