Firm Awarded Defense Contract Worth $790M After Hiring Ex-* Official

[babylonsister]

Defense Contract Award Protested
By Walter F. Roche Jr.
The Los Angeles Times

Friday 26 October 2007

Washington - A Defense Department medical services contract worth up to $790 million was awarded last month to a Wisconsin-based company three months after it hired a former Bush administration appointee who had supervised military health programs at the Pentagon for the last six years.

William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs from 2001 until April, joined Logistics Health Inc. as a director and consultant in June. The firm beat out two other bidders with proposals that ranged from $80 million to $100 million less, records show. Under the new contract, Logistics Health will provide immunizations and physical and dental exams for reservists and National Guard members.

Logistics Health of LaCrosse, Wis., is headed by another ex-official of the Bush administration - former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson.

"They stacked the deck," said Fran Lessans, president of Passport Health, one of the losing bidders. Her Baltimore-based firm lost despite a bid projected over five years to cost nearly $100 million less than Logistics Health's winning proposal.

"It was wired. There is no doubt in my mind," Lessans said of the Defense procurement process.

Two other firms involved in the bidding have filed formal protests with the Government Accountability Office. A draft copy of one protest letter, reviewed by The Times, cited Winkenwerder's role and complained that the winning bidder may have "gained unequal access to information not available to other competitors" by hiring the former Pentagon official.

more...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102807Y.shtml

[flashl]

1. William Winkenwerder Jr. of Walter Reed scandal? n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Could be; that's not a name like Brown or Smith! I'd say likely. nt

[flashl]

5. Yep, its him

The long-term wounds of Walter Reed

Despite military officials' "surprise" at recent coverage, Salon exposed inadequate care and an overwhelmed system unfriendly to vets beginning two years ago.

The Pentagon has scrambled this week to contain media coverage of scandalous conditions for war veterans who are outpatients at the acclaimed Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The lack of services and care, raised by articles in the Washington Post in recent days, were first exposed and brought to the attention of military officials by Salon in a series of investigative reports beginning more than two years ago. Nonetheless, with a spotlight on the problems again now, top officials are claiming they did not know about them. They are also seeking to convey the message that the problems are relatively inconsequential and will be easily fixed.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the highest civilian official in charge of the military medical program, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., said of the failures at Walter Reed: "This news caught me -- as it did many other people -- completely by surprise."

[Peregrine]

3. This is business as usual for defense contractors

The president at Passport Health is just upset because her ringer wasn't good enough. When I worked at McDonnell Douglas we hired Reagan's Sec. of the Air Force. With another company, as we were preparing to bid on a (then) INS program, we hired three former INS managers and still lost. With another company, we were working on a bid to the Defense Information Systems Agency and hired a retired admiral who was the former commander. We won even tough current management hated the "Admiral." My last company, since bought out by Lockheed Martin, hired the Under SecDef for information systems as the President of the company.

Also price doesn't mean a damn thing. Again when I was with MD we bid $9B on a medical system, SAIC won with a bid of $1.5B. One year later after modifications to the contract, SAIC's contract was worth $14B. Some Senator from Kansas (this is the late 80's) was involved in the final award.

It isn't just federal contracts. I used to manage projects for a company where my customer was the state of Maryland. My staff consisted of:

- Former assistant to the Governor's Chief of Staff (she was also a former Miss Maryland 1st Runner-up)
- Former CIO of the Department of Labor and Licensing
- Former State CIO
- The state's project manager responsible for the development of the state's IT strategic plan

[flashl]

4. You are right. Its a small group of players in a revolving door. n/t

[L. Coyote]

6. K & R