Poor Contractor Performance Hampers Government

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of stories about the ineffectiveness of government contractors government mismanagement. While I'd like to go into detail on each one (they are definitely worth a closer look), the stories are starting to pile up. Instead, a summary round-up of some of the contracting screw-ups that appeared so far in 2008.

** The Washington Times reported today [1] that an investigation that lead to the conviction of a former GSA procurement official (Dessie Ruth Nelson) and two top executives at a private security company (Holiday International Security, Inc.) is being widened to include other "unrelated contractors" who may have bribed Nelson or other procurement officials. Nelson pleaded guilty in early January [2] to accepting over $100,000 in bribes in exchange for steering contracts to the private security firm founded by Michael Holiday. Nelson received, among other things, a shopping bag filled with $35,000 in cash, an envelope containing $10,000, and a $7,000 Caribbean cruise.

** The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report [3] on Jan. 11 that found a web site created for the Transportation Security Administration to address grievances from travelers incorrectly flagged by the government's no-fly list was poorly constructed and vulnerable to hackers. The report, covered in the Washington Post [4], Government Executive Magazine [5], and other [6] tech [7] blogs, concluded that cronyism and a lack of oversight exposed thousands of site visitors to identity theft. In this case, the contract was awarded without competition and the TSA official in charge of the contract was a former employee and good friend of the CEO of the contractor.

** Federal Times reports today [8] that the top official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is alleging that "poor contractor performance is delaying a new satellite that will monitor global environmental conditions." The contract in question was given to Raytheon (FedSpending Profile [9]) and Northrop Grumman (FedSpending Profile [10]), which have been slow to solve problems with a key instrument for the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).

** Finally, the Washington Post [4] also has an article today about a recent Government Accountability Office report [11] that found a defense contractor hired to repair combat equipment "routinely failed to do the job right and then charged the government millions of dollars for the extra work," according to the WP. The contractor, ITT Industries (FedSpending Profile [12]) apparently received $4.2 million for additional labor, according to the GAO report.