Report: TSA got little for $1 billion contract with pa. company

[malachi]

Corporate America and the gov't at it's best.

WASHINGTON - For close to $1 billion, airport security officials think they ought to have closed circuit televisions that work, telephones that can put callers on hold and radios that reach all corners of the airport.

But some officials don't have the equipment they need because the Transportation Security Administration didn't keep proper tabs on its billion-dollar contract with Unisys, according to a Homeland Security Department inspector general report released Thursday.

Unisys performed so poorly that the inspector general, Richard Skinner, recommended that the project be put out for bid again.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14232320.htm

[gratuitous]

1. Not a word from Unisys in the whole story

The story doesn't say if they tried to contact Unisys or not, but it's pretty surprising that a large company would get so thoroughly trashed and not have something to say.

They're thinking of putting the job out for another bid, but only after the first $1 billion has been squandered. Does this make any fucking sense? Which Bush administration insider is in line for a salary, pension or stock option from Unisys?

We used to call things like this "war profiteering." I wonder how the national media will describe it instead so that nobody thinks badly of Unisys?

[Blue_Tires]

9. unisys could care less about commenting for the story

it's called 'laughing all the way to the bank', and 'business as usual inside the beltway'....The not-so-shocking part is there are probably many more cases of contract fraud that dwarf this incident...

naturally, by this time next year, everyone will forget about this story, and unisys will get an even fatter contract that they can not deliver on with no objection at all...

with such little oversight or recrimination when things go wrong, many governments are just begging to get robbed by the corporations...I remember this (very large) public school system I used to work alongside...A few years ago, the system wanted to upgrade their administrative computer systems that handled all the clerical and bookkeeping stuff like payroll...What started as a $3 million bid eventually became a $9 million overrun and the system didn't even do half of the things promised when it was working properly, which was never...What was worse was that evidently one woman in the main office could work the system halfway right, and when she left to take another job, none of the janitors, bus drivers, etc were getting their paychecks from the system--they were THIS close to striking before the school board had to act...They had to go back to the vender that sold them the system, and PAY them ANOTHER $2 million to fix/upgrade the network and train an officeful of staffers...

[Tempest]

2. Unisys gives 100% to Repugs

http://tinyurl.com/gukyh
http://tinyurl.com/rgrgu

$304,000 since 1998.

[UpInArms]

3. RawStory did a great expose` on this

Abramoff, lobbyists linked to troubled multibillion-dollar Homeland Security contract

<snip>

The Transportation Security Administration awarded a $1 billion contract to Unisys to devise a cutting-edge computer network linking hundreds of airports to the TSA’s state-of-the-art security centers. The contract was ideal, they argued, because if the company failed to meet its goals, Unisys would pay money back to the agency.

It didn’t turn out that way. In October, the Washington Post revealed the Pennsylvania-based information services company had overcharged the government for a whopping 117,000 hours -- billing $131 an hour for employees who were paid less than half that amount. Officials now see the project costing taxpayers as much as $3 billion.

Unisys’ prime lobbyists? A team from the Greenberg Traurig lawfirm led by Neil Volz, former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) -- which included indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

RAW STORY has found that Unisys acquired the contract, said riddled with fraud, in a process that included backroom dealings and almost no competitive bidding, and former Abramoff associates say his lobbyists had a hand in the deal. The investigation also found that the man who brokered the TSA deal, a company president, was later a buyer of Abramoff’s posh Washington restaurant.

<snip>

Unisys paid Greenberg Traurig $596,000 in 2003 and 2004; Greenberg is the highest-paid lobbying firm the company has retained since 1998. A spokesman for Abramoff declined to comment.

...more...

and here's their lobbying

http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/profile.aspx?act=clients&year=2003&cl=L003019⊂=2

[BR_Parkway]

6. This spider web of corruption never freaking ends - I wonder what

happens when they start figuring out that Crony A screwed Crony B who was screwing Crony C who was screwing the government?

It's mind boggling.

[n2doc]

7. ROI is amazing

It is always amazing to me just how little these corps have to spend to buy off Congress. I mean, 1.2 mil for a 3 billion dollar boondoggle

[UpInArms]

8. that's because the GOPpiggies are really all just smalltime swindlers

but when you add up all the damages they do, it's enormous.

[struggle4progress]

10. A billion is a smalltime swindle?

[UpInArms]

11. no, a billion is not a smalltime swindle - that is the overall impact

of the selling out of our Congress - for those "contributions" - recalling the Dukester's rates that he wrote on the back of his "business" card bearing the congressional seal.

A few thou here, a few thou there - a billion dollar hit for the taxpayers - a few trillion in debt ( :eyes: ) deficits don't matter, all of it is a huge swindle, but it is done by a thousand papercuts.

:(

[struggle4progress]

12. Original post seems to be about ONE (billion dollar) ripoff.

[UpInArms]

13. and that One (billion dollar) ripoff turned into a THREE Billion Dollar

ripoff

It didn’t turn out that way. In October, the Washington Post revealed the Pennsylvania-based information services company had overcharged the government for a whopping 117,000 hours -- billing $131 an hour for employees who were paid less than half that amount. Officials now see the project costing taxpayers as much as $3 billion.

[struggle4progress]

14. A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

[TexasLawyer]

16. Whoa!

Thanks for posting!

[notadmblnd]

4. Aren't all thos off shored workers doing their jobs?

fortunately these companies are getting exactly what thay are paying for.

[ShockediSay]

5. more contractor corruption

of our so-called democratic process

[wordpix2]

15. Kip Hawley is TSA director & it's under DHS & Chertoff---no wonder no one

is keeping tabs on contractors. Jerkoff should have been fired after Katrina but he's a * bud and who knows how much money he's helping BFEE rake in?

http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_multi_image_0093.xml

[DeepModem Mom]

17. NYT: Audit Finds Mismanagement Drained $1 Billion TSA Project

Audit Finds Mismanagement Drained $1 Billion TSA Project
By ERIC LIPTON
Published: April 2, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 1 — Mismanagement of a $1 billion technology contract by the Transportation Security Administration resulted in the expenditure of the entire budget long before all of the needed computer and telephone equipment was installed, according to an audit released Thursday by the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department.

The contract, with the Unisys Corporation, called for the installation of computers, pagers, cellphones, radios, telephones and a high-speed network to serve the agency's 65,000 employees at its headquarters, 21 field offices and 429 airports.

The $1 billion was supposed to be enough to finance the project through 2009, the audit said, but most of the money ran out this year before many projects were complete.

Federal security directors at some airports had to rely on dial-up Internet connections to get e-mail messages and information on schedules, training and attendance for airport screeners, although all of them now have high-speed connections.

Other promised systems still not fully delivered include voice mail, a staff management system, a secure wireless network and a network of training computers, the report said, and equipment that was installed often was not robust enough to handle the constant use....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/washington/02security.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

18. Unisys maintains lavish office space in the most expensive

buildings in Orange County. They aren't giving the taxpayers any bargains.

[rodeodance]

19. but it sounds like it is the TSA that 'mismanaged"? Is this correct?

Mismanagement of a $1 billion technology contract by the Transportation Security Administration resulted in the expenditure of the entire budget long before all of the needed computer and telephone equipment was installed, according to an audit released Thursday by the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department.

[rodeodance]

20. seems like both sides have fault"

Transportation Security officials generally did not dispute the report's main findings and have acknowledged that in a rush to set up the new agency after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, mistakes may have been made. But they added that they realized, despite the $1 billion cap on the contract, that it would not be enough to cover all of the required cost.

The audit found that in the few cases where government contract managers took the time to check, Unysis frequently "proposed too many hours and higher labor categories than necessary" for the work. In those cases, federal officials negotiate lower prices. The problem was that much of the work on the contract proceeded without such oversight, the audit said.

Unisys defended its performance, saying in a statement that it had provided state-of-the-art equipment and met the contract's requirements.

Regardless, late last year, the agency declined an option to extend the contract with Unisys, so it can move, as recommended by the inspector general, to a new deal that ensures "fair and reasonable pricing," avoids unauthorized work and routinely evaluates the quality of work the contractor is doing.