The Army Corps of Engineers made their contract requirements for dewatering pumps the exact same specifications (from same page with same typos) as the catalog of the contractor the bid was awarded to, which happens to have previously employed the Presidents brother Jeb, and is also a major Republican campaign donator.

Quote :

"NEW ORLEANS - When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, it copied the specifications — typos and all — from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract, a review of documents by The Associated Press found. The pumps, supplied by Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and installed at canals before the start of the 2006 hurricane season, proved to be defective, as the AP reported in March. The matter is under investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. In a letter dated April 13, Sen. David Vitter (news, bio, voting record), R-La., called on the Corps to look into how the politically connected company got the post-Hurricane Katrina contract. MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush's brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party. While it may not be a violation of federal regulations to adopt a company's technical specifications, it is frowned on, especially for large jobs like the MWI contract, because it could give the impression the job was rigged for the benefit of a certain company, contractors familiar with Corps practices say. The Corps' January 2006 call for bids for 34 pumps used the wording on how the pumps should be built and tested, with minor changes, found in MWI catalogs. The specifications were so similar that an erroneous phrase in MWI catalogs — "the discharge tube and head assembly shall be abrasive resistance steel" — also appears in the Corps specifications. The phrase should say "abrasion resistant steel." An incorrect reference to the type of steel that would be required apparently was also lifted. Eugene Pawlik, a Corps spokesman in Washington, said the agency is working on a response to Vitter's letter. MWI declined to discuss how it won the contract. GAO would not talk about its probe. Richard White, a federal contracting expert, said it is "not unheard for a spec to be copied, in particular in cases of emergency purchases." "It's not a good practice, but it's not anything egregious, especially if the Corps allowed other companies to negotiate to change it," White said. After Katrina swamped about 80 percent of the city, Congress appropriated $5.7 billion to rebuild New Orleans' flood protection systems. Vitter and Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record), D-La., have excoriated the Corps over its workmanship since Katrina."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070430/ap_on_re_us/katrina_faulty_pumps

[Edited on April 30, 2007 at 7:03 PM. Reason : .]

4/30/2007 6:59:13 PM

it sucks, but i mean i don't see why it should be surprising

4/30/2007 7:08:59 PM

OMFPLAGIARISM!!! CALL TH' CUZ!!!

5/1/2007 1:38:03 PM

not so much copying the specs that irritates me; its the whole deal with the crony-ism contracting like with Halliburton in Iraq

5/1/2007 2:19:35 PM

that's what i was referring to

5/1/2007 11:25:14 PM

^^^ aaronburro

ive been noticing something. you really have a problem with reading comprehension, don't you? i imagine it's been an issue for you most of your life?

well, its good that you are trying to make it through college. i know it must be tough for you.

5/2/2007 1:47:28 AM

So wait a second... You're saying that the Bush Administration planted a project engineer in the Army Corps of Engineers to copy some specifications from a catalog of a company that Jeb worked for back in the 80's in the hopes that it might give that company a competitive advantage in the bidding process?

OMFG WHAT AN EVIL, DASTARDLY INGENIOUS PLAN!!!1

C'mon, what the fuck is this shit? There is plenty of real corruption going on, you shouldn't have to grasp at straws like this.

One of the engineers got lazy and copied some specs out of a major pump supplier's catalog. Big deal.

5/2/2007 1:57:25 AM

i swear. you people. what part of "foregone conclusion" don't you understand.

(1) ARMY CORPS is determined to give a contract to their political buddies, firm that once employed and is close to President's brother, and has strong financial ties to prominent republican lawmakers.

(2) so the ARMY specs a design by copying their buddies design as the spec itself.

(3) then (no surprise) they award the bid to their buddies.

(4) WHO THEN BUILT THE DEFECTIVE EQUIPMENT to the tune of $30 million.


but you republican hacks scream foul if a democrat makes $50K trading on the futures market.

get some morals already.

5/2/2007 2:08:30 AM

are you really shocked joe? clean skies initiative, no child left behind. S O P

5/2/2007 10:40:54 AM

im not shocked at anythign this corrupt administration and their lackeys do.

but im sometimes amazed at the extent the local T-Dub Republitools go to defend, dismiss, or otherwise minimize the constant litany of moral and ethical scandals by their political heros.

5/2/2007 11:04:44 AM

what are we supposed to do, have a 12 month bid process and require a bunch of MWBE businesses to get the contracts?

5/2/2007 11:06:11 AM

Well, if they want the cleanup to cost a lot more than the 5.7 billion allocated, they should do just that.

The prevailing wage laws are driving up the costs more than anything else. Does it really make sense to pay a mexican laborer 25 bucks an hour?

5/2/2007 11:12:29 AM