Privatization

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Federal Contract Bidding: It's Complicated

Mar 12, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Last week, we noted that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) played a role in killing the Air Force's deal with Boeing to provide tanker planes. Citing corruption in the original bidding process as the reason for his intervention into the deal, McCain said: All I asked for in this situation was a fair competition...I never weighed in for or against anybody that competed for the contract. All I asked for was a fair process. And the facts are that I never showed any bias in any way against anybody — except for the taxpayer.

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"Contractor" Classification Worth Over $190 Billion to Blackwater

Mar 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Boston Globe: In letters to the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration, and the Labor Department, [House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry] Waxman, Democrat of California, questioned Blackwater's classification of its workers as independent contractors instead of employees. That designation, which the government has questioned in the past, allowed the company to obtain $144 million in contracts set aside for small businesses and avoid paying as much as $50 million in withholding taxes under State Department contracts, he said.

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House Investigates Status of Contracing Reforms

Feb 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

More news on the contracting front this week (in addition to Craig's post earlier today). The House Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement held a hearing on the status of government contracting reform (here's a Government Executive article summarizing the hearing). Contracing expert and all around good guy Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, testified during the hearing on efforts to bring more competition, oversight, and transparency to the contracting process. You can read his excellent testimony to the committee regarding a number of pending pieces of legislation as well as the recommendations of the Federal Acquisition Advisory Panel on POGO's website.

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Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Questions Value of Contractors

Feb 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on defense contracting. It turns out that at least one contractor in Iraq - one receiving hundreds of billions of dollars from the government - is slightly less than "cost effective."

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Ashcroft and US Attorney Christie Testimony Delayed

Feb 21, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Readers may recall that last month we wrote about a no-bid contract worth between $28 million and $52 million former Attorney General John Ashcroft's firm received to oversee a court settlement. The contract was awarded by a former employee of Mr. Ashcroft - New Jersey's US Attorney Christopher Christie.

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Are Contractors Taking Over?

Feb 21, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

This morning, the New York Times published a fantastic article by Scott Shane and Ron Nixon about how contractors are taking over huge parts of the federal government. The article, "In Washington, Contractors Take On Biggest Role Ever," is the first in a series of articles by the Times that will investigate government contracting. And rightly so. Outsourcing of government jobs, services, and product development has more than doubled in the last 6 years - a staggering growth rate. The article in today's paper shows, contrary to popular belief, that contractors often end up costing the government more money than it would otherwise spend, with inflated hourly wages ($104 per hour in one example from the article), poor performance and management, and little oversight or accountability from government employees. Scott and Nixon profile problems at the General Services Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, as case examples of following poor contracting practices and making wasteful decisions that have squandered billions of taxpayer dollars while enriching private companies. In fact, one study cited in the article concluded the explosion of contracting "poses a threat to the government's long-term ability to perform its mission" and could "undermine the integrity of the government's decision making." The entire article is worth reading and does a great job summarizing some major concerns about the current contracting environment. I'm looking forward to the rest of the articles in the series and my only hope at this point is that every member of Congress will read the articles as well.

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Contracting Shenannigans: Before and After

Feb 20, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Two stories this morning that bookend contracting scandals we've been following over the past few months. First, wrapping up an extensive bribery scandal, the Washington Post reports former Defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who was convicted in November of 13 felony crimes including bribery, conspiracy and fraud for giving gifts to former representative Randy 'Duke' Cunningham (R-CA), was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. And second, opening up what might be another front in the post-Katrina contracting scandals, the Associated Press reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency "misspent millions of dollars it received from selling used travel trailers" using the funds for "tree-removal services, agency decals and banners and global positioning systems" instead of returning the funds to the U.S.. Treasury, as required by law. The news article is based on a Homeland Security Inspector General's report to be released this Friday.

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Infrastructure Begins in Washington

Jan 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Bob Herbert's column in the NY Times today elevates an important issue that has been swirling under the radar the last few years in Washington and around the country but has not garnered enough attention - lack of infrastructure investment. Herbert highlights the work of Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to create a national infrastructure bank that would identify, evaluate, and help finance large-scale, long-term infrastructure projects across the country to rebuild and strengthen roads, bridges, levees, transit systems, water treatment facilities, schools, hospitals, electrical grids, and other key infrastructure sectors. Dodd and Hagel are hoping to create a sense of urgency to address the growing infrastructure problems faced by the U.S., framing this as an economic issue as much as a quality of life concern. The need is certainly clear. From Herbert's column: The need for investment on a large scale — and for the long term — is undeniable. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, in a study that should have gotten much more attention when it was released in 2005, it would take more than a trillion and a half dollars over a five-year period to bring the U.S. infrastructure into reasonably decent shape. ... As things stand now, the American infrastructure is incapable of meeting the competitive demands of the globalized 21st-century economy. Senator Hagel noted that ports are overwhelmed by the ever-expanding volume of international trade. Rail lines are overloaded. Highways are clogged. Herbert's well-reasoned column reminded me of another commentary from the Times editorial board last week entitled "Charity Begins in Washington." This editorial argued there are many aspects of our society - namely social needs - that demand government investment and cannot be left to private philanthropy. Dodd and Hagel have certainly made a strong case that infrastructure projects also warrant considerable and sustained federal investment. Read more about the Dodd-Hagel National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007. Bill summary and letters of support

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Open-Gov Questions Candidates are Afraid We'll Ask

Jan 29, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Elections are the time when politicians pay the most attention to people and issues, and therefore the best time to ask them questions about how they plan to govern. OMB Watch wants your help in figuring out the best questions on government transparency that can be put to the candidates. Take just a few minutes to answer our survey and vote on your five favorite questions on the issue of government transparency and openness. We will then share the top questions with the news media and other organizations that have direct contact with candidates. Government openness affects every issue from budget and taxes, to the regulatory process, to non-profit advocacy. The range of questions tries to reflect this breadth so check them and see which are most important to you. Take the Open Government: What We Need To Know Survey today.

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DoD Unable to Control Contractors

Jan 25, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Another unbelievable story on contracting in the Washington Post this morning. Walter Pincus reports that government officials (including Jack Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, and William M. Solis, director of defense capabilities and management for the Government Accountability Office) testified before Congress that the Bush administration is unable to manage the enormous number of U.S. contractors currently working in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the end of September, there were over 196,000 contractor workers assisting the Department of Defense in the two war zones, and Defense Undersecretary Jack Bell stated that despite the crucial role these contractors play in the war effort, the Defense Department was "not adequately prepared to address this unprecedented scale of our dependence on contractors." The GAO also found not enough trained service personnel are available to handle outsourcing to contractors in the wars, a finding supported by Retired Army Gen. David M. Maddox, who has studied the contracting effort in Iraq as a member of an Army-appointed commission. This testimony was delivered at a joint hearing of two subcommittees of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee yestereday afternoon. And it is more than simply related to ensuring efficient management of the war effort - there's a lot of money involved here too. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) noted in a statement: Out of $57 billion worth of contracts for services and reconstruction work in Iraq, the Defense Contract Audit Agency has reported that more than $10 billion — or one-sixth of the total spent on contracts — is either questionable or cannot be supported because of a lack of contractor information needed to assess costs. To date, there are more than 80 separate criminal investigations into contracts totaling more than $5 billion. Here's a link to the committee page for the hearing where this testimony was heard, but it really won't do you much good as it doesn't have any testimony or information about the hearing other than who testified. Image by Flickr user jamesdale10 used under a Creative Commons license

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