Auditing federal contracts difficult; no central database
Tags: federal aid, corruption, bechtel, fluor corporation, halliburtonFrom the AP report "With U.S. Katrina aid, tracing money isn't easy":
Trying to track who is getting what portion of the billions of dollars 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 is not required by law.
…Under federal election law, a click of a mouse traces every campaign donation. Yet no comprehensive public database exists for federal contracts.
…Federal law requires that agencies disclose contract awards, typically by one of two government-sponsored databases. 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 contract with Carnival Cruise Lines to provide housing for evacuees that legislators have criticized as wasteful, and open-ended contracts with Intelsat and Bechtel Corp. awarded partly because of their previous relationships with the government…
…An audit by the Government Accountability Office last month found that the primary database, known as the Federal Procurement Data System, was inaccurate and incomplete. GAO said that there were repeated delays by the Pentagon in switching to a new system that would allow the department to report its awards in real time.
Scott Amey, the general counsel of the Project on Government Oversight, said that his group compiled its own database of contractors with a history of spending waste or other misconduct, and said that some of the culprits - politically connected Fluor, Bechtel and Halliburton - were among the biggest initial winners of Katrina contracts…
