House Votes to Permit $10 Billion Visitor-Tracking Contract for Accenture

[Snazzy]

House Votes to Permit $10 Billion Visitor-Tracking Contract for Accenture

By Alan Fram Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 16, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - A drive to block a massive federal contract awarded to Accenture LLP for tracking visiting foreigners was all but scuttled Wednesday by the House, despite arguments that the company should be punished for avoiding some U.S. taxes.

The near party-line 234-197 procedural vote by the GOP-led chamber meant language disallowing the contract - valued at up to $10 billion over the next decade - was likely to be removed later this week from a $32 billion bill financing the Homeland Security Department.

The Accenture contract would benefit a wide array of subcontractors and is strongly supported by the business community and the House Republican leadership. Accenture opponents say the company shrunk its tax bill by moving its headquarters to Bermuda. But they acknowledged they face an uphill fight and were hoping the Senate would keep the issue alive.

"These companies have an obligation to the United States of America to pay their taxes," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. "If you want to feed at the public trough, you have to pay your taxes."

....

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBEXLM9KVD.html

(that twice today that something I thought had been resolved in the favor of us/rationality--the other was the tactical nukes--did a complete flip)

[FloridaPat]

1. They also outsource programming jobs to China and Asia.

The government sure has some nice ties with the old Anderson Consulting firm! Just like Halliburton almost

[2Design]

2. these guys are disgusting.......this is obviously not in the usa

best interest....these guys like Enron are not paying taxes but taking all the money and getting breaks...anyway.......they should all be canned....and we expect them to do the right thing on torture....

they are abusing their own citizens every day they are in offficee....

[Tight_rope]

3. It won't work...Bush will still sneak his bad friends in and out! n/t

[grasswire]

4. accenture is FOREIGN

...based offshore, and pays no U.S. taxes. It's the former Arthur Anderson corporation of Enron fame.

Dirty, filthy business.

[stickdog]

5. And guess which party put corporate interests ahead of national interest

yet again?

[saigon68]

6. Nothing new there

"Pass the champagne garcon", quipped the corporate exec.

[Dirk39]

7. Accenture corruption in Germany

"Germany freezes development of its employment portal


eGovernment News – 02 March 2004 – Germany – eServices for citizens

On 25 February 2004, the German Federal Labour Office (Arbeitsamt) announced it was freezing its job portal development plans due to skyrocketing costs. Although the original costs were evaluated at EUR 65 million, new estimates indicate the portal would cost EUR 165 million up to 2008.

Due to be one of the office's flagship projects, the new employment portal - Arbeitsagentur.de - suffered from a number of technical problems since it went online in December 2003. However, its freeze was brought about by a financial scandal, with the new head of the German Federal Labour Office Frank-Jürgen Weise denouncing an out-of-control budget and the public prosecutor investigating corruption suspicions. In this context, Mr Weise decided to fire the head of the Arbeitsagentur.de project.

The Labour Office has also said that, in any case, current technical problems should be fixed before any potential expansion of the portal’s services could be undertaken. The website, which was developed by Accenture, has been criticized for being slow, instable and failing to deliver requested information. On 27/02/2004, a press release by Accenture denied any corruption in the bidding procedure and stated that the second stage of the project was running according to schedule.

Although the Labour Office claims the project would cost EUR 100 million more than originally foreseen, certain press reports reported that Accenture said the additional costs would “only” represent EUR 48 million. Meanwhile, members of the parliamentary opposition have asked for the resignation of the top managers of the Labour Office, based on new revelations that the agency was aware of the cost explosion since August 2003. Certain Members of Parliament also asked the Federal Minister of Labour Wolfgang Clement to disclose the contract with Accenture before a parliamentary committee.

The portal was launched on 01/12/2003 to support the fulfilment of the government’s employment-related missions, which include connecting supply and demand on the training and job markets and promoting their transparency. The portal was supposed to be further developed in the coming years, with for instance an enhanced matching system to be implemented in May and a Service Centre for job intermediation and consultation to be launched in August 2004.

© European Communities 2004
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged."

http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/jsps/index.jsp?fuseAction=showDocument&documentID=2210&parent=chapter&preChapterID=140-194-308-578

I did read in a German newspaper that most american federal government don't allow any more contracts with Accenture, 'cause their known for overbilling, corruption and not working correctly.

Hello from Germany,
Dirk