Stimulus money going to scofflaw companies

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:21:00 +0000

One company paid nearly $1 million for destroying seagrass in the Florida Keys marine sanctuary. Another settled a discrimination case after federal investigators found it refused to hire black employees. A third firm was rebuked by the Army for poorly screening the interrogators it hired -- interrogators who later abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Despite those problems, the three companies have won millions of dollars in contracts under the economic stimulus package.

In the three months since President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill, the federal government has awarded more than 800 contracts to repair military buildings, thin forests, and clean up Cold War nuclear plants. Much of the initial $3.8 billion in awards has gone to large companies with long records of working with the government.

But some contractors have paid hefty fines for breaking environmental, safety or other regulations, ProPublica found in a review of the first round of contracts from federal agencies.

None of the contractors' past violations was deemed serious enough to disqualify them from future government business. That typically requires a criminal charge, delinquent taxes or an attempt to defraud the government. Outside of that, federal agencies have the discretion to suspend or ban a contractor for "any offense indicating a lack of business integrity."

Salon.com > David Epstein /ProPublica

Stimulus money going to scofflaw companies