Finally the reports I’ve been waiting to see…
In January, investigators will release the first of several audits examining more than $12 billion in Katrina contracts. The charges range from political favoritism to limited opportunities for small and minority-owned firms, which initially got only 1.5 percent of the total work.
“Based on their track record, it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw another billion more in waste,” said Clark Kent Ervin, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general from 2003-2004. “I don’t think sufficient progress has been made.”
The IG is right. I suspect the audits will show incredible waste and much of it will be in the large debris removal contracts. Remember NBC News reported on how 4 and 5 layers of subcontractors were taking their cuts…
Here’s an example of how it worked: The Ashbritt company was paid $23 for every cubic yard of debris it removed. It in turn hired C&B Enterprises, which was paid $9 per cubic yard. That company hired Amlee Transportation, which was paid $8 per cubic yard. Amlee hired Chris Hessler Inc, which received $7 per cubic yard. Hessler, in turn, hired Les Nirdlinger, a debris hauler from New Jersey, who was paid $3 per cubic yard.
Nirdlinger is not happy.
“It’s a pyramid,” says Nirdlinger. “And everybody is taking a piece of the pie as you work your way up, and we’re at the bottom. We’re doing the work!” he says
The audits will likely show a similar pattern in the blue roof contracts. Between fraud, cronyism, no-bid contracts and lots of waste, it will be more than a billion lost.