U.S. Embassies: Still More Examples of Problems with Contractors

Posted by The Crux | Last month, we learned about shoddy contractor work at the $592 million US embassy project in Iraq, which will be our largest embassy in the world. Appliances at the site's $22 million guard camp didn't work, staff-trailers gave off toxic fumes, and some wiring was so faulty that it melted or caused fires.

Yesterday, we learned that our tax dollars have funded shoddy work at other US embassies, including some in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Ronald Spogli, our ambassador in Italy, reported an electrical fire that he attributed to faulty wiring:

"'I find the overall electrical work done by Gilford [the contractor] to be of such a shoddy nature that it calls into question their competence,' he said. Spogli said his staff had uncovered 97 code violations and yet the OBO had failed to act, even though he urged that the contract be terminated" (Washington Post).

The Post focused on one common element underlying our embassies' troubles: Charles Williams, the man in charge of the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO). We at BN-Politics wonder about other elements: some contractors' ethics, and our government's questionable contract-management skills (more about that below).

Back to Williams: The Post implied that his competence was questionable even before the OBO hired him and that he was hired based on nepotism....

Williams was a long-time friend (and former Army buddy) of Colin Powell, who hired Williams in 2001 when Powell was Secretary of State. The Post reported that Williams:

"quit under fire as chief operating officer of the D.C. public schools in 1998 when a botched roof repair project delayed the opening of District schools by three weeks....

"Williams oversaw the building of the Dulles Greenway, completed in 1995, but he abruptly resigned from two other high-profile jobs -- head of the $4 billion New York City School Construction Authority and then the D.C. schools post -- after being heavily criticized for poor management."

I don't know if Williams' references were checked before Powell hired him.

On to other concerns: every tax dollar devoted to shoddy work (or contractor fraud) is one less dollar for legitimate government needs. Some contractors seem to lack diligence (or ethics) when working for tax dollars, and government staff hasn't done well at awarding or managing contracts. Among the recurring problems are:

۰ Re-hiring contractors who performed questionably in the past

۰ Failing to negotiate contracts to protect the taxpayers

۰ Failing to oversee contractors' performance

۰ Failing to keep enough staff to monitor and manage contracts.

Waste of tax dollar has involving different agencies an different types of contractors. For example, To the People pointed out yesterday that a South Carolina contractor fraudulently billed the Pentagon $998,798 to ship two 19-cent washers.  According to Bloomberg News, this contractor had a history of over-billing us taxpayers, ultimately to the tune of millions.

This doesn't surprise us at BN-Politics, as we've repeatedly reported on contractor waste, fraud and abuse. Below are a few related posts:  

  * Defense Dept. Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?

  * How the Energy Dept. Incinerated Tax Dollars

  * How the Defense Dept. Flushes Dollars Down Latrine

  * Govt. Contractors: Driving up Healthcare Costs?

  * New Orleans Still Suffering after 2 Years and Billions of Tax Dollars

  * Gov. Contractors: Driving up War's Costs? 

  * Contractors Offering Bribes to Army Personnel?

  * Taxpayers Losing Money to Engorged Contractors

  * Audit Red-Flags Contractor in Iraq

   

Comments

[Zach W.]

I find it hard to believe the Bush administration would hire someone incompetent. After all, they chose Michael Brown to head FEMA, and look how well that worked out.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/brown.fema.emails/index.html

[Zach W.]

I find it hard to believe the Bush administration would hire someone incompetent. After all, they chose Michael Brown to head FEMA, and look how well that worked out.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/brown.fema.emails/index.html

[Buck Naked Politics]

Well put! Brownie had come to mind as I wrote, as did that little guy who was criticizing scientists at the DHS -- the one with the Latin American Studies degree whose parents had ties to Bush's family.