Questioned before a House oversight hearing on the treatment of soldiers at the Army’s Walter Reed hospital Army officials testified recently on the negative impact of a lengthy A-76 job competition for support services.
Maj. Gen. George Weightman, removed recently from his post as head of Walter Reed after the story about poor conditions at the hospital broke, said a contract award to privatize support services issued in January 2006 led to a loss of personnel and a drop in the quality of patient care.
In January of 2006, a five-year $120 million contract was awarded to IAP Worldwide Services for support services and facilities management.
According to a letter sent to Weightman by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a September 2006 memo written by the garrison commander to the Army’s assistant chief of staff for resource management said the contract award had caused the loss of "highly skilled and experienced personnel," and that base operations and patient care services were facing the "risk of mission failure."
The number of federal employees providing facilities management and related services dropped from 300 when the contract was awarded to 60 when IAP took over on February 2 of this year, at which time 50 IAP employees took over.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., has requested an investigation into conditions at the Navy’s top hospital, Bethesda Naval Hospital and the veteran’s affairs hospital network is being looked into as a whole.
Mikulski lamented the defeat a measure in the last Congress by a vote of 50 — 48 that would have prohibited the Army from outsourcing maintenance work at Walter Reed.
