WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. lawmakers slammed the Bush administration Thursday over fraud and waste in hurricane reconstruction contracts.
Government agencies responsible for disaster preparedness and recovery need to enlist more local workers, exercise more discretion to ensure contracts are being adequately fulfilled and expand the number of bids gathered, House Government Reform Committee members said at a hearing reported by CongressDaily.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Republicans and the Democrats criticized officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, General Services Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency for contracting problems in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including widespread fraud, unused trailers for evacuees and excessive overcharging by contractors charged with cleaning up, the report said.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., read from an Army Corps auditor's report detailing how contractors being paid to remove debris would arrive at the federal dumping site, check in and drive away -- only to return later with the same truckload, and receive double payment.
"They didn't unload at all," Waxman said. "This isn't an isolated occurrence. Everywhere the auditors looked, it seemed the taxpayers were losing out."
Army Corps auditors logged thousands of complaints about fraudulent contracting, and revoked payments in some instances. The auditors continue to pursue allegations, said Maj. Gen. Don Riley, the Corps' director of civil works. "There have been indictments," Riley said.
Waxman and other legislators ripped agencies for waiting until after the storm to engage companies in contracts for ice, water, transportation, trailers and tarps, CongressDaily said.
"The planning was not where it needed to be," said William Woods, the Government Accountability Office's acquisition and sourcing management director, in testimony.
"Many people are capable of getting the job done besides Halliburton," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.
