http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/12926382.htmPosted on Mon, Oct. 17, 2005
Report: Katrina spending lacked controls
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The government spent nearly $300 million for a private contractor to hire buses, trucks and planes for hurricane relief efforts - apparently with little control or oversight, according to a Transportation Department memo released Monday.
Landstar Express America Inc. competed successfully for a four-year contract with the Federal Aviation Administration in October 2002 to provide emergency transportation services, Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said. The contract had a limit of $100 million a year.
Congress and the Bush administration have pledged to scrutinize spending on private contractors to make sure they aren't profiteering from efforts to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and rebuild the Gulf Coast.
Transportation Department Assistant Inspector General Theodore Alves, in a preliminary assessment, found that the FAA passed along requests for transportation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Landstar that totaled about $289 million, according to the memo.
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