September 10, 2002 OCA editors note: we don't like to gloat, but we predicted from the beginning that the $40 million for mail irradiation was money down the drain... Irradiation is a very powerful technology that has unpredictable and harmful consequences. Federal auditors say: Anthrax cleanup plagued with problems August 31, 2002 (AP) Private contractors hired to decontaminate postal facilities billed the government for at least $50 million in unexplained cost overruns and $40 million for mail-irradiation machines that have yet to be used, federal auditors found. Additionally, The Hartford Courant reported, one company got $600,000 for work it never did. And another $1 million went into preparing decontamination facilities that were never used, because local officials in the two Maryland communities where the facilities were located didn't want anthrax-contaminated mail in their towns. The findings by the postal service's inspector general come as postal officials ask Congress for nearly $700 million in emergency funding to help cover costs incurred during the anthrax attacks. Part of a separate review by the General Accounting Office is due early this month. The postal service's inspector general spent five months examining 11 contracts worth $104 million, which were awarded last fall during the anthrax scare. The inspector general pointed out that the postal service was under intense pressure to protect its own workers after two died of inhalation anthrax, and also to assure everyone the mail was safe. "The Postal Service's response to the initial threat of anthrax and its continuing efforts are commendable," wrote Assistant Inspector General Ronald K. Stith. "However, our reviews identified four areas that warranted management's attention. These areas were contracting, transportation, contractor oversight and mail delivery." Critics of the postal service, which has long been accused of financial mismanagement, say the emergency nature of the anthrax response simply made an already bad situation worse. "Purchasing methods are atrocious to begin with, and then you add in the pressure from politicians and the public of dealing with the anthrax crisis," said Rick Merritt, executive director of PostalWatch, a citizens' watchdog group. "Then their answer is to just go to Congress and ask to have more money thrown at them." Specifically, the reviews find that: - The cost of three contracts increased by nearly $54 million over the original bids, with no documentation to explain why. A contract with Clean Harbors, hired to decontaminate the Morgan Street Distribution Center in New York, went from $5 million to $22.8 million. A contract with IT Corp. for testing various facilities went from $3.3 million to $30.2 million. - IT Corp. was paid $598,780 to clean the Morgan Street facility - but the cleanup was never performed. The company was replaced after postal officials determined it was moving too slowly, but the money was never refunded. - The company that decontaminated the Pentagon's internal post office was also retained to verify the results of the decontamination. The contractor did not complete the work, as it had claimed to have done in its final report. Pentagon officials spent an additional $27,000 to finish the job. - Postal officials spent $181,000 on trailers that sat idle. Trailers were supposed to help move mail from the Brentwood facility in Washington, D.C., to Lima, Ohio, to be irradiated, but postal officials overestimated what they needed. The postal service ran into trouble after it tried to put eight new irradiation machines it purchased for $40 million from Titan Scan Technologies in new facilities in Temple Hills and White Oak, Md. The plan was to bring in contaminated mail from New Jersey and Washington, D.C., to be irradiated. But local officials objected a week before the process was to begin, upset that the postal service intended to bring potentially contaminated mail into their towns. Postal service spokesman Jerry Kreinkamp said officials realized the machines aren't viable long-term solutions for securing the mail nationally. They are trying to rework the contract with Titan, he said. Government auditors are less sanguine about the episode and what it says about postal service management. "Without proper planning, they went out and acquired $40 million of equipment," GAO Senior Technologist Madhav Panwar said. "They are just not doing any long-term planning, only short-term thinking in some of the purchases." Spokesmen for the companies that rang up the $53.7 million in cost overruns cited in the postal service inspector general reports declined to comment, referring questions to the postal service. In responding to the audits, postal officials acknowledged that some mistakes were made, but said the unprecedented nature of the anthrax attacks caught many government agencies off guard. The officials also said they were under intense pressure from everyone, from the White House to the postal union, to react quickly. "While it is easier when looking back to see what could have been done or done better, the fact remains that in spite of these unprecedented conditions, the contracts were awarded timely and provided the labor, material and expertise necessary," said Keith Strange, the vice president of purchasing and materials for the postal service.