DORGAN BILL AIMS TO REFORM FEDERAL CONTRACTING, CUT WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE

Thursday, February 15, 2007

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and 22 Senate colleagues introduced legislation Thursday that would make sweeping reforms in federal contracting rules.

The legislation is aimed at stopping what Dorgan called "outrageous rip-offs of the American taxpayer" including huge no bid contracts, little if any accountability for implementation of those contracts.

Late last month the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released a report detailing tens of millions of dollars in wasteful spending on Iraq reconstruction projects. Over the past two years, Dorgan, as Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, conducted more than a dozen oversight hearings that exposed hundreds of millions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

Key points of the legislation are as follows:

• Punishment for war profiteers: imposes penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million for war profiteering.

• Crackdown on contract cheaters: restores a rule which prohibits awarding federal contracts to companies that exhibit a pattern of breaking the law in performance of government contracts. The previous rule, put in place by the Clinton Administration, was dropped by Bush Administration upon taking office.

• Real contract competition: prohibits awarding huge, sole-source, monopoly contracts, like the ones Halliburton has routinely been awarded in Iraq, requiring that multiple companies be awarded large contracts to ensure real price competition.

• End cronyism in key government positions: stops unqualified political appointees like Michael Brown and David Safavian from holding government positions relating to contracting and public safety. The bill requires that nominees for such posts have relevant professional qualifications for the job.

"American taxpayers have a right to expect that their tax dollars are spent wisely," Dorgan said. "Too often officials they should have been able to count on have been asleep at the switch. Our bill not only provides a much needed wake-up call, it puts teeth behind the effort to protect tax payers from waste, fraud and abuse."

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