As lawmakers and the administration hash out how
reconstruction oversight will be managed – and how agency
inspectors general offices will be coordinated – Rep.
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have
introduced the Hurricane Katrina Accountability and
Contract Reform Act, to set-up a ten-member anti-fraud
and abuse commission to increase transparency and
accountability and to reform contracting procedures.
The commission would probe allegations of price gouging
or profiteering during the emergency, identify contract
awards potentially based on personal relationships,
review current contracts looking for abuse and
mismanagement, determine if there are enough acquisition
personnel overseeing federal contracts, review government
charge card use, as well as review activity in the
petroleum and natural gas markets.
Waxman proposed giving the board authority to call
hearings, obtain documents and testimony, issue
subpoenas, and then report to Congress and the President.
Further, the bill would prohibit “monopoly contracts,”
on the scale of that obtained by Halliburton for the Iraq
reconstruction effort, “prevent contractor conflicts
of interest,” bar federal employees from involvement in
deals with his or her former civilian employer for five
years, prevent contractors from hiring federal procurement
officials for up to two years rather than one, and repeal
the increase of the limit on “micro-purchases” with
federal charge cards, which stands at $250,000 – up from
$25,000 for certain emergency situations.