Stimulus Money Going to Contractors That Are “The Most Egregious Offenders of State and Federal Laws”
October 29th, 2009Via: Washington Post:
President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government.
But that isn’t happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and agencies have awarded more than $1.2 billion in stimulus contracts to at least 30 companies that are ranked by one watchdog group as among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws.
Government records show that as a group, these contractors have sold defective products, manufactured safety tests, submitted false travel claims and padded contracts with fraudulent fees.
…
Judith Neal called a hotline and exposed Honeywell for fabricating tests on at least $7 million in ammunition it manufactured and sold in 1987, according to a court finding. She’s watched as similar incidents have continued for two decades.
At the time, both Neal, who worked in the company’s personnel department, and the Justice Department prevailed in court against Honeywell. However, the federal government secured $2 million from the company and $400,000 in ammunition, not even half the value of the faulty ammunition, records show. Such disparities in cost recoveries continue and are common.
“It is not punitive at all,” said Neal, now director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace at the University of Arkansas. “When you talk about repeat offenders, there are too many profits involved to stop them from doing it again. They just get their hands slapped.”
What truly blows my mind is not the reality of what they’re reporting, but that people just keep buying the concept of exceptionalism in the reporting of such matters after all these years. The credulity runs through the story like a streak of maggots through a steak.
Would you like another bite?
“Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace”? This is sponsored by a public university? And the director of this government sham is commenting on another government sham? As I recall, the King of Faith-Based Mental States once said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”