Agency Accused of Mishandling Contract

[shanti]

Agency Accused of Mishandling Contract
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031227/ap_on_go_ot/faulty_weather_radar_5

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The National Weather Service (news - web sites) bought and installed defective equipment designed to keep power flowing to storm-detecting radar, then quietly replaced the problem system by paying the same contractor for replacements, government documents show. An internal investigation has concluded Weather Service officials "seriously mishandled" the contract by paying for the failed units, rather than forcing the contractor to cover the costs as a government lawyer had repeatedly urged.

The probe also found officials bought the second set of equipment without considering competitive bidding, and made no mention of the decision to pay for defective equipment in official records, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. "How easy it was for a handful of people to violate established public policy for contracting," said Robert Curtis, the Weather Service contracting specialist for the original contract and the settlement. During that process, Curtis complained to a top official that the settlement he was ordered to write would improperly pay the contractor for the defective equipment.

Curtis then was fired; the reasons for his dismissal are in litigation. Curtis said several government officials, who agreed to pay for the failed equipment, decided to "go off and do their own thing without anyone understanding what was going on, in a major program that impacted national safety." The payments went to the prime contractor, Powerware Corp., of Raleigh, N.C. Powerware officials declined comment.

Officials at the Weather Service said they have no indication that the radar ever failed during a critical storm because of the problems. They said they paid Powerware because they believed the technical specifications they originally wrote were to blame for the equipment failures, not the contractor's workmanship.

Asked why the decision to pay and the added costs to taxpayers weren't disclosed in the contract paperwork, a senior Weather Service contracting officer who worked on the dispute said he didn't review the settlement closely enough.

*snip*

[alfredo]

1. Hope Mr Curtis takes them to the cleaners.

firing whistle blowers used to be illegal.

[Wink]

2. This has Haliburton written all over it.

Don't know this but it sure sounds like one of their contracts.

[DUreader]

3. Some Shades of Enron Here, PowerWare used to be Exide

Name Change subsumes formerly multiple brand Names

http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_exide_exits_powerware/


Exide Electronics Group has been renamed Powerware Corp., a move that
initiates the power management product vendor's strategy to create a global
master brand. That brand will envelop several Exide Electronics affiliates
as well as Deltec.</p><p>Previously, the company operated under multiple brands in various regions
of the world. While Powerware will become the master brand for most
affiliates, some of them, such as Lectro, IPM and DataTrax, will retain
their names

[DUreader]

4. LOL Exide makes "Bush Batteries"

just for fun folks

Bush Batteries - Exide Maxxima technical information
Exide Maxxima Batteries - Specifications. ...
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/batterymain/maxxima_tech.htm - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

[shanti]

16. heck yeah

cheney has his hands all over this one! they think they are so slick by changing the name of the corporation, but we're on to them;-)

[DUreader]

5. JAN 2003: White-collar' crime nets former Exide chief 10 years in prison

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3306/1_113/97350902/p1/article.jhtml


snip


Hawkins and Douglas N. Pearson, Exide's former vice president of North
American operations, were convicted on two counts each of wire fraud and
conspiracy during a three-month jury trial last summer. The case was
heard by Judge David R. Herndon of the U.S. District Court of Southern
Illinois.

At December's sentencing hearing, Pearson got a 64-month federal prison
sentence and a $150,000 fine.

Miriam F. Miquelon, a U.S. district attorney who prosecuted the case told
Aftermarket Business that Pearson and Hawkins each pleaded for leniency,
but neither man showed remorse for what they had done.

The punishments for the two are appropriate for the crimes committed,
according to Miquelon. Motorists faced with defective Sears batteries were
the ultimate victims, she pointed out. Exide workers and the economy in
general also suffered, she added.

"That's what (President George Bush) and (Attorney General John
Ashcroft) want to clean up--white-collar crime," said Miquelon. "They want
to bring confidence back to the business community and protect
consumers."


snip

[DUreader]

6. Jun-20-02 A DU Thread on the convictions

salin (14877 posts)
Jun-20-02, 09:08 PM (ET)
Two Guilty in Exide Battery Scandal
Two Former Top Executives Guilty in Exide Battery Scandal

The Associated Press

EAST St. LOUIS, Ill. June 20 — Two former top executives of battery manufacturing company Exide Technologies were convicted Thursday of
scheming to sell defective merchandise to thousands of consumers during the 1990s.

Arthur Hawkins, 59, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Douglas Pearson, 58, of New Hope, Pa., each were found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to
commit wire fraud.

Hawkins, a former Exide president, and Pearson, the company's former vice president of North American operations, lied to secure a large contract
with Sears in 1994, prosecutors said.

Former chief financial officer Alan E. Gauthier, 54, of Flemington, N.J., pleaded guilty to the charges early in the trial.

-------------
Exide Illinois agreed in a plea bargain to a $27.5 million fine. The larger Princeton, N.J-based Exide Technologies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in
April.

more at: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/ap20020620_1868.html

[DUreader]

7. Yuasa-Exide US subsidiary of Japanese Co. Giving Cash To Repubs '96

Detailed information on the foreign subsidiaries shows other Japanese
companies besides Sony, Toyota and Nissan and these include Bank of Tokyo,
Bridgestone Tires, Honda, Ito-Yakado Co. (Southland Corp.), Nichiro Gyogyo
Kaisha (seafood), NKK, Nomura Securities and Yuasa Corp (Yuasa-Exide).
see URL http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/global/global4.htm

[DUreader]

8. They were the Top Donor to this PA Repub.PAC in 2000

State House (R - 12)
ARGALL, DAVID G

$3,150


YEI PAC

http://www.opensecrets.org/st/getscontrib.asp?state=PA&candid=PA754&cycle=2000

[Nile]

9. "Technical specifications they originally wrote"

From the article:

"they believed the technical specifications they originally wrote were to blame for the equipment failures, not the contractor's workmanship."

This could be the real reason for the trouble. In almost any business if you provide the specifications and something is built exclusively for you and meets specifications, you have to pay for it and any changes made to it afterwords. In other words the contractor built it the way you wanted it. It is your fault if it does not work properly. Fire the guy who wrote the specifications.

[DUreader]

10. "real reason for the trouble" The Cover-up is more trouble

than the original trouble

Also doesn't explain the no-bid contract

[Nile]

13. It was the replacement set of equipment that was not bid on.

From the article:

"The probe also found officials bought the second set of equipment without considering competitive bidding"

It appears that they had already acquired bids from all interested parties for the origional set of equipment. Because it was not the contractors fault that the original equipment ordered by the agency was not what the agency needed. The agency just reordered, with some new specifications from the same contractor.

[DUreader]

14. We have a company with a history of criminal activity and a cover-up

We have an article with precious few details

I think it behooves us to be more skeptical and less forgiving here

A whistle blower gets fired and you seem to think nothing is really

wrong in this picture?

[Rebellious Republican]

11. New specs, new bid! simple as that........

Yeah and what if those specs were purposely written wrong, enabling that company to come in low, knowing that they would have to fix the problem after installation. At an additional cost, just another example of cronyism!

[Nile]

12. From the article I got the impression that...

the Officials at the Weather Service wrote the specs, not the contractor. The contractor just built what it was told to build.

[DUreader]

15. "...violate established public policy..."

"senior Weather Service contracting officer who worked on the
dispute said he didn't review the settlement closely enough."


snip

The contracting official, John O. Thompson, blamed Curtis - the whistleblower - for
negotiating the deal. Curtis denied ever agreeing to pay for defective equipment, and
documents show he had already complained to superiors about irregularities before
Thompson completed documents explaining the negotiations.


snip


The inspector general of the Weather Service's parent, the Commerce Department, said
the amount was $4.5 million but the fired specialist, Curtis, alleges it was $18.5 million.


snip


But unlike his written warnings, no record can be found of Langstein's approval. Asked
whether he provided written consent, Langstein answered, "I believe I did, but I can't
locate it."