WP: Audit Details High Costs of Contractor (TSA)

[Pirate Smile]

Audit Details High Costs of Contractor
TSA Lost Control of Over $300 Million Spent to Hire Airport Screeners After 9/11 for Security

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

The money was spent in the name of improving security at the nation's airports:

· $526.95 for one phone call from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago to Iowa City.


· $1,180 for 20 gallons of Starbucks Coffee -- $3.69 a cup -- at the Santa Clara Marriott in California.


· $1,540 to rent 14 extension cords at $5 each per day for three weeks at the Wyndham Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062903063.html
· $8,100 for elevator operators at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.


· $5.4 million claimed for nine months' salary for the chief executive of an "event logistics" firm that received a contract before it was incorporated and listed its address at a post office box.

Those details are contained in a federal audit that calls into question $303 million of the $741 million spent to assess and hire airport passenger screeners for the newly created Transportation Security Administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The audit, along with interviews with people involved in the passenger-screener contract, paints a rare and detailed portrait of how officials at the fledgling agency lost control of the spending in the pell-mell rush to hire 60,000 screeners to meet a one-year congressional deadline.

[Miss Chybil]

1. God, will they ever stop raping us? I think I'll buy stock in KY Jelly.

:hurts:

[lakeguy]

2. how much would it cost to BUY 14 extension cords

and then donate them when you are done?

people wouldn't do this BS if they didn't think they could get away with it. question is, who isn't getting caught?

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. And this was when every body was super patriotic!

Super patriotic crooks who spotted a good opportunity, kind of like the people in the wh.

[Rose Siding]

4. kick

:grr:

[underpants]

5. See all the money would have been wasted on employees

had they been able to join a union. Luckily that didn't happen.

[maddezmom]

6. wow...look what else they are involved in...from their website

2002
As part of the largest peacetime mobilization in U.S. history, NCS Pearson recruits, screens, and hires more than 45,000 federal passenger screeners for the newly formed Transportation Security Administration (TSA). In the fall, we are awarded two major federal contact center contracts: the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Customer Service Center, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 1-800-MEDICARE Helpline. The Oakdale facility opens in Coralville, IA. By year's end, NCS Pearson's government division becomes a separate business within the Pearson Education family of companies, known as Pearson Government Solutions and led by President and CEO Mac Curtis.

2003
Pearson Government Solutions continues its dramatic growth, opening new facilities in Corbin, KY, Coralville, IA, and Phoenix, AZ. Pearson Performance Solutions, which develops award-winning professional and technical learning solutions across all major markets, becomes part of Government Solutions. One of Washington Technology's "Top 100 Federal Prime Contractors," Pearson Government Solutions has more than 3,000 employees worldwide.

2004
Pearson Government Solutions is awarded multiple customer interaction center contracts throughout the year, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) National Contact Center pilot and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Consumer Response Services program. Our contact center designs will enhance the government's level of customer service through the delivery of multi-channel services that allow citizens and government to effectively connect.

2005
Building on our longstanding relationship with the Department of Education, we are awarded the FSA Front-End Business Integration (FEBI) contract, now known as ADvance. Pearson Government Solutions' execution of the FEBI program will exemplify our abilities to provide full-spectrum solutions, from designing to integrating to operating. Our approach to FEBI, like all programs, demonstrates our dedication to the customer and continues to revolutionize the way government agencies do business with their constituents.

http://www.pearsongovernmentsolutions.com/history.htm

[cyberpj]

10. time to see who's invoved there and in D.C. - nt.

[htuttle]

7. $526 for one phone call?

Were they calling collect from a payphone in jail?

[Roland99]

8. Obviously wasn't from a Sprint phone (no overage charges)

;)

[cyberpj]

9. Now when do we start demanding Halliburton $$ breakdowns?

hmmm.......