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So the supervisor(s) of those contractors were immediately fired, correct?
You have to ask more questions before you start firing people, and that's the part we don't know. Who was responsible for the record keeping at the warehouse? If you hire a private contractor to manage a public facility, the way you deal with checking records is through an audit--that's what they did. If the EPA or any other agency was going to have hands on, routine contact and go in there to conduct routine inventory checks, then there would be no reason to contract out the management of the facility. Maybe more than anything this is a good argument against contracting out government programs to private agencies, because you lose oversight and management control.
The reason you conduct an audit is to determine if the property is being well managed, or if there is abuse and fraud. They conducted an audit, they found that the employees were inappropriately using equipment that wasn't currently being used by the department, that there was surplus inventory that needs to be disposed of, and now they're going to fix it and the contractor will most likely lose his contract. It sounds like the auditors did their job. I don't see the problem.
After how long? How long were the abuses taking place? Its only a few bucks right? If only this were the first time the EPA seemed to be involved in a flub where the TAX payer, thats you and I are left footing the bill with an ah shucks excuse.
The miss use of power, falsifying reports,leaks. This is what happens when there is no accountability and we the people accept the ah shucks excuses.
That private company was working hand in hand with someone. That is how it works.
Where I work we had a contractor running one of our warehouses. Suddenly we had a mouse problem.
Money which was part of the contractor wasn't being spent on the exterminator. Other huge misses were found.
The company reps who dealt with the contractor didn't get to say ah shucks. They got to look for new jobs.
Should civil servants not be held to a higher standard?
Interesting. So what EPA employee was fired for not monitoring the situation correctly? Hmm...
I believe the contractor was fired.
It was an EPA employee who discovered the problems. The Inspector General who reported it, is an EPA employee.
It would be wonderful if we had more inspector generals who audited the government and its contractors. But then we'd have to have someone who policed the inspector generals. Because bureaucracies by their very nature enable corruption.
Bureaucracies exist to disperse accountability. That is their function. Our government is a massive bureaucracy that generates its own momentum. Everytime we hear about a government problem, and we rush to blame the administration in charge, we need to pause, and think about it. How many of these problems are caused by career government workers, who aren't part of the administrations at all, they are part of the bureaucracy? A self-sustaining bureaucracy where the rules are so complicated, so layered, that the entire point is no accountability. That's why career government employees aren't ever fired. Because the bureaucracy is constructed to take accountability out of the process.
Maybe more than anything this is a good argument against contracting out government programs to private agencies, because you lose oversight and management control.
They can't manage to supervise a private contractor and what is stored yet you expect them do it themselves?
After how long? How long were the abuses taking place? Its only a few bucks right? If only this were the first time the EPA seemed to be involved in a flub where the TAX payer, thats you and I are left footing the bill with an ah shucks excuse.
The miss use of power, falsifying reports,leaks. This is what happens when there is no accountability and we the people accept the ah shucks excuses.
That private company was working hand in hand with someone. That is how it works.
Where I work we had a contractor running one of our warehouses. Suddenly we had a mouse problem.
Money which was part of the contractor wasn't being spent on the exterminator. Other huge misses were found.
The company reps who dealt with the contractor didn't get to say ah shucks. They got to look for new jobs.
Should civil servants not be held to a higher standard?
If you want the government to provide hands on management of every government facility, then stop pushing to have them contracted out to private companies. I ran non-profit agencies--some on contract with the feds for the delivery of services--and there is no "working hand in hand with someone." You contract for the services, you report to their requirements, and then you're occasionally audited to make sure that you're doing what you said you'd do. THAT'S how it works. Non-profit organizations with government contracts tend to have more rigid oversight than private companies--they're usually governed by a board of directors that holds the Executive Director accountable, and they have to go through an internal audit of their operations and finances every year just to be eligible to receive public funds. A business contracting doesn't have the same controls put in place.
Contracting out is supposed to be a cost saving measure, but when you lose control of the oversight, it creates a situation that's ripe for abuse, because the contractor is looking at his bottom line vs. the cost to the government. That often means LESS oversight of employees and looser record keeping. I'm sure the warehouse did the reports that were required of them, but without conducting an audit (which is what happened) you have no way of knowing if the reports are correct. Bottom line is that you don't get it both ways--either you have the government employees and the oversight to do the job right, or you deal with the risk that it may be harder to find abuse and problems in the system. You guys want to constantly slash government workers, but then you're ticked when they can't micro manage projects they contract out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman
Items that are sitting unused on the floor for 5 years is not doing your job, it's a waste.
A box full of expired diplomatic passports is not doing your job, it's security risk.
These things should not be sitting in a warehouse to begin with.
That's right. That's what they found in the audit, and that's why the contractor lost his contract.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker
Do you know the definition of a "warehouse"?
Exactly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman
They can't manage to supervise a private contractor and what is stored yet you expect them do it themselves?
A government employee identified the situation and they fixed it. If you want them to directly supervise to the point of checking inventory against records, then you better be willing to have the government employees to do that job on a routine basis, or for the government to actually take over the management of the warehouses vs. contracting them out.
Government waste hurts us all--we pay for it, and we have better things to do with our tax dollars. My whole point is that if you want things run right so there is no waste, then you have to be willing to pay for that too. Oversight costs money and takes staff resources. You don't get it both ways.
Oversight costs money and takes staff resources. You don't get it both ways.
You're suggesting we need to expand government to oversee waste. My point is the oversight costs you nothing if you're not paying someone to warehouse brand new refrigerators for 5 years in the first place.
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