FEMA has FAILED to Honor Pledge

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has failed to honor a pledge made last month to reopen four of its biggest no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work.

The no-bid contracts for temporary housing, worth up to $100 million each, were given to Shaw Group, Bechtel, CH2M Hill, and Fluor right after Katrina struck.On Oct. 6, acting FEMA chief R. David Paulison declared he was "no fan of no-bid contracts" and pledged to reopen the four deals.


But in testimony to Congress on Tuesday, Greg Rothwell, Homeland Security's chief procurement officer, said rebidding will not be done until February.


But the four firms told the Washington Post that they had not been notified of the rebidding other than from news reports following Paulison's announcement. And remarkably, CH2M Hill and Fluor told the Post that their contracts could end in January.

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