The Inspector General is on the LMI case — here’s how you can help (USMMA)

We have received information via the confidential tip page that the DOT Inspector General has opened an investigation into the suspicious nature of the award of the contract to LMI and the conflict of interest issue we raised in our recent posts, The LMI Scandal Unfolds and LMI and the Conflict of Interest Clause.

This is a big development and some of the readers of this website may be able to help. Here’s how:

The Inspector General office has an 800 phone line that you can call if you have relevant information. Don’t call to tell them about the posts on this website — they’ve read the posts and it will not help to overwhelm them with information that they already have. But, if you have specific evidence or leads that might help them develop evidence, then you should contact them. Contact information is at the end of this post.

Here's a summary:

Anthony Foxx is the (cuurent Obama appointed) Secretary of Transportation

Paul N. Jaenichen, Sr is the current Maritime MARAD Administrator

This was released by the US Merchant Marine Academy on Oct. 13, 2016:

KINGS POINT, N.Y., October 3, 2016 - The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced the selection of Logistics Management Institute (LMI) as the contractor to perform an independent cultural assessment of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in order to address the root causes of the sexual assault and harassment and other inappropriate behaviors that have persisted both on campus and during Sea Year.

https://www.usmma.edu/about/communications/usmma-cultural-assessment-us-department-transportation-announces-selection

This is the contractor selected:

http://www.lmi.org

But this blogger has been looking into this situation:

http://www.kingspointsentry.com/

A short time ago, he posted this:

When the contract was awarded to LMI, we searched in vain for something that would suggest that LMI had a legitimate reason to get the contract award. We found no evidence that LMI had any background in the U.S. maritime industry or USMMA. We also found that it had almost no experience dealing with the assessment of cultures for sexual assault/sexual harassment (“SA/SH”). We scoured the biographies on the LMI website of the LMI management team — directors, officers and program directors — and we were unable to find a natural link between LMI and DOT/MARAD that would explain why LMI was wired for the culture study at USMMA.

So when a tipster wrote on Friday to tell us we should check out the connection between Marlise Streitmatter (Deputy Chief of Staff for former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood) and LMI, we were naturally curious. We were stunned to learn that she not only works for LMI, she is also involved in the USMMA culture study. This certainly suggests the explanation as to how LMI, an arguably unqualified vendor for the culture study, was wired to get the contract award from DOT/MARAD. In addition, Ms. Streitmatter’s involvement in the USMMA culture study is a conflict of interest that undermines the credibility of the study. Here’s why:

Ms. Streitmaater was then-Secretary LaHood’s Deputy Chief of Staff from at least 2009 until mid-2013. She was the number four person in the DOT during her tenure there and was tasked by LaHood to handle the many issues dealing with USMMA. To put this in perspective, Ms. Steitmatter was the Secretary’s point person for USMMA issues when DOT/MARAD:

From:

http://www.kingspointsentry.com/sea-year-stand-down/breaking-the-lmi-scandal-unfolds/

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