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Former congresswoman rakes in $450K from federally funded laboratories
[The Daily Caller]News from the DoE and National Lab cesspools. Former New Mexico Republican Rep. Heather Wilson received nearly half a million dollars in questionable payments from four federally funded nuclear laboratories after leaving office, according to the Department of Energys inspector general. In fact, our testing revealed that the four facility contractors paid approximately $450,000 to [Heather Wilson and Company, LLC] even though they did not receive evidence that work performed under the agreements had been completed, reads the IGs report. These payments were fully reimbursed by the government. According to the inspector generals report, Wilson failed to provide documentation for work she did for Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, for which she was paid $20,000 per month. Both the labs seem to have asked Wilson to secure them more work, which is in violation of Wilsons contract, according to the report. "Failing to provide documentation" is generally defined as not being able to produce specific contract deliverables assigned, specific worked performed, or time card entries. Wilson received 23 payments totaling $226,378 from Sandia between January 2009 and March 2011, and 19 payments from Los Alamos totaling $195,718 between August 2009 and February 2011. Wilson also received $30,000 from the Nevada Test Site and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Officials there even told investigators that there were no deliverables associated with the $30,000 Wilson received. Oh there were deliverables, but they were not contained in any formal statement of work [SOW]. The contractors have since paid back $442,877 out of the $464,203 that was paid to Wilson. Which by any other standard, is tantamount to an admission of wrong doing. Under federal law, fees for services rendered are allowable only when supported by evidence of the nature and scope of the service furnished so Wilson has to prove she did the work. Wilson told the Associated Press that the report confirms that the labs were satisfied with my work. The work was done in full compliance with the contracts we signed and under the direct supervision of lab sponsors. The report called Wilsons agreements with the labs unusual and, in some cases, highly irregular. And it said the agreements and the lab operators failed to include or enforce even minimum invoicing standards required under federal regulations. Her relationship with our national labs goes back over 20 years and she has worked on a wide range of projects with different groups of scientists and engineers over time, Wilsons Senate campaign told the AP last year. Wilson was defeated by Democrat Martin Heinrich, who highlighted her cozy relationship with the laboratories. Los Alamos told the AP in a statement that it was reasonable and appropriate to ask for Wilsons help, arguing she was uniquely qualified to advise the lab on a variety of issues related to our national security missions. [W]e acknowledge we did not document her services consistent with our own expectations for subcontract management, Los Alamos added. And the Federal Employee serving as the Contracting Officers Representative charged with oversight of the Federal Acquisition Regulation [FAR] was whom? Posted by: Besoeker 2013-06-12 |
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