Auditors eye open-ended Katrina contracts

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The contracts, for services such as levee repair and emergency housing, were granted to companies based on their pre-existing business relationships with the government. Critics say the arrangements foster cronyism because a few repeat players typically get the best deals.

The Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department, which has primary responsibility for reviewing the billions of dollars worth of Katrina contracts, said they will focus on the agreements that were awarded with little or no competition.

They include "indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity" contracts such as those involving Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Va., and San-Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. Both firms have strong ties to the Bush administration.

"We've been looking at all the contracts from day one," said Richard Skinner, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general. "One concern is whether you are getting the fair market value. The second is whether the people we are giving contracts to are the best qualified."
<snip>

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/politics/12715096.htm

[aquart]

1. Uh huh.

Didn't the GOP cripple the GAO? And I'm supposed to be impressed by this oversight?

[struggle4progress]

2. Yep: the GOP removed important civil service protections for the GAO,

so agency employers are now much more vulnerable to political pressure