Reconstruction
March 2, 2007
President Bush's visit on Thursday to New Orleans and Mississippi avoids areas that still show the worst of Katrina's wrath in favor of rebuilt homes, reports National Public Radio. Critics say many federal funds earmarked for the rebuilding effort are not being spent.
February 28, 2007
Sixty concrete-and-limestone pyramids were set on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday to replace artificial reefs damaged or destroyed by Katrina, reports The (Biloxi) Sun Herald. Marine-resources managers hope reef fish will call the new structures home. A barge sank the pyramids in three designated fish habitats 10 miles south of Horn Island, Miss.
February 27, 2007
Last September, the Small Business Administration, which provides most long-term rebuilding aid to disaster victims, accelerated its lending to homeowners and businesses in the Gulf Coast, responding to criticism that it had been slow to respond to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. But now federal investigators are looking into accusations that in speeding up its work, the agency made thousands of loans without following its own rules to avoid fraud, reports The New York Times. Current and former employees of the agency have told investigators that agency workers failed to secure proper proof that borrowers owned the houses they were supposed to rebuild or had the required insurance.
Joining a chorus of critics of the Road Home grant program, a consortium of churches on Monday called for a federal investigation of the contract between the state and ICF International, the company earning up to $756 million to parcel out billions in federal flood recovery aid. Speaking in front of a Lower Ninth Ward church on a still-devastated block of St. Maurice Avenue, ministers from All Congregations Together pronounced the $7.5 billion program a failure, citing the tiny percentage of applicants who so far have received money to fix or hand over their flood-damaged properties, reports The Times-Picayune.
February 26, 2007
This week, a contractor plans to begin the federally funded demolition of downtown buildings in Bayou La Batre, Ala. damaged by Hurricane Katrina. That includes the mom-and-pop strip that constituted the town's commercial center from the 1920s until the local economy went south in the late 1970s. Crushing arms of heavy machinery will eventually claim whole blocks of buildings and houses that represent much of the Bayou's past — an experience not uncommon in coastal cities still clearing out Katrina's wreckage, reports The (Mobile) Press-Register.
While New Orleans haggles over a master redevelopment plan, people in some neighborhoods have been rebuilding on their own, reports The New York Times. They are forming partnerships with companies, universities and nonprofit organizations to help gut homes, assemble volunteers and find pumping equipment. Rebuilding has not been easy. For those who choose to stay, sky-high insurance premiums and rising crime rates await them.
Granite mausoleums and marble tombstones — some from the 1700s — still lie pummeled in Biloxi, Miss. as if Hurricane Katrina raked the coast last week, not 18 months ago, reports The Associated Press. The road to recovery has been tough for many cemeteries. Several have been embroiled in FEMA or insurance issues. Some that are church-owned or private just don't have the money for restoration. And caretakers or sextons at still others can't simply return a tombstone or memorial bench to its original spot without facing risk; if something were to break, it would be costly.
February 23, 2007
The first new houses built in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward since Hurricane Katrina were turned over to their owners on Thursday, creating a small island of hope in a sea of ruin, reports The New York Times. Empty during the day and dark at night, this area is a long way from being a neighborhood again, even though it has been the focus of intensive volunteer efforts and organizing since the storm. The destruction of the Lower Ninth Ward, which was working-class and black before the hurricane, and its subsequent failure to begin recovering, have become symbols for what some see as inequities in this city's halting revival.
November 28, 2005
Of the 413 post-hurricane contracts that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had awarded to Louisiana companies as of Nov. 18, only 125 were worth more than $100,000 and only 50 of those were worth $500,000 or more, according to a Gannett News Service analysis. Of the $3.7 billion FEMA has spent on contracts related to Katrina and Rita, about $201 million — or 5.4 percent — went to Louisiana companies, according to the analysis. The other storm-hit states, Mississippi and Alabama, haven't fared better.
See Gannett News Service article
November 22, 2005
Katrina seriously damaged many of the dwellings overseen by the Housing Authority of New Orleans, tearing roofs off buildings and flooding their lower floors, The New York Times reports. Officials say they will use this opportunity to revamp the long-troubled system, which housed about 20,000 people — nearly 5 percent of the city's population. Local and federal housing officials say the poor will no longer be clustered in isolated, low-rise housing projects that had the feel of barracks and often became magnets for crime. Some existing housing will be torn down, and smaller structures, like townhouses, will be built in their place, with middle-class residents living among less prosperous ones.
Storm Forces a Hard Look at Troubled Public Housing
November 21, 2005
State Farm Insurance Cos. sustained between $8 billion and $9 billion in losses from Hurricane Katrina, a record for an insurer from a single storm, ChicagoBusiness.com reports. Katrina's ultimate impact on State Farm's bottom line will depend on the amount of storm-related claims it can pass on to reinsurers and the federal flood insurance program.
November 17, 2005
Two and a half months after Hurricane Katrina, no public schools are open and nearly an entire generation of New Orleans public school students has vanished, The Washington Post reports. Administrators are struggling to find them, paying for public service ads in far-flung cities and papering evacuee centers with fliers. A school system that served 55,000 students before Katrina's assault on this city has registered only 4,400 for the oft-delayed reopening of five schools in the little-damaged Algiers neighborhood, now scheduled for Dec. 14.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111602345.html
With as much as 80 percent of New Orleans' population still out of town, including most of the black voters who constitute the city's majority, it is not clear whether a municipal election will occur there in February, as scheduled, according to a report in The New York Times. If it does, it will probably be unlike any other in the United States in recent memory and will raise questions of racial fairness. Since Hurricane Katrina, most of the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people who have returned to New Orleans have been white and middle class, changing the city's racial composition, which had been two-thirds black. Residents who wish to vote will either have to make their way back to town or rely on absentee ballots, a method of voting that has had a checkered record across the nation in recent years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/national/nationalspecial/17politics.html
A politician from suburban New Orleans was accused of demanding $100,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor who won a contract from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to handle Hurricane Katrina debris, the Associated Press reports. Joseph Impastato, 33, a member of the council that oversees St. Tammany Parish, was arrested on Tuesday when he accepted two cashiers checks totaling $85,000 from a subcontractor with Omni Pinnacle, who cooperated with authorities.
http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4129865
The federal government has suspended payments on an $80 million contract to an Alabama company that built base camps for emergency workers responding to Hurricane Katrina after auditors reported finding billing and documentation problems, according to a spokeswoman for FEMA, The Washington Post reports. The case is the first in which action was taken on apparent faults in the many contracts federal officials signed, often with little or no competition, in the rush to send aid to the Gulf Coast region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111602264.html
Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans economy so hard that the number of people with jobs in the region will fall to 337,000 next year, less than half the pre-storm level, according to a report released by a team of economists at Louisiana State University, The Times-Picayune reports. The impact will drop the area's employment to a level not seen since 1965 and make room for Baton Rouge as the state's No. 1 metropolitan area, the report says.
http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-0/1132214526230470.xml
November 16, 2005
Insurers, industry veterans and even hedge funds are rushing to start new companies to tap into a surge in catastrophe reinsurance prices that is expected after this year's record hurricane season, MarketWatch reports. Hurricane Katrina probably cost U.S. insurers and reinsurers $34.4 billion, according to the Insurance Services Office, an organization that crunches data for the industry. Less than three months after Katrina struck, 10 budding reinsurers are raising almost $8 billion in new capital, according to SNL Financial, a research firm based in Charlottesville, Va.
November 15, 2005
The uncle and father of a Louisiana lawmaker have won three no-bid contracts worth $108 million to provide temporary housing for Hurricane Katrina evacuees even though their motorcycle shop didn't have a license to sell new trailers until after the first deal was signed, the Associated Press reports. No-bid contracts awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for temporary housing in trailers and on cruise ships have come under question by state and federal lawmakers and businesses complaining of favoritism.
Lawmaker's father, uncle got $108 million FEMA trailer contract
The unprecedented task of collecting the post-Katrina trash, estimated at 22 million tons for New Orleans alone, is expected to take months, if not years, according to a report by The Christian Science Monitor. That's a real challenge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the project for FEMA.
The inner life of a city gets dragged to the curb
November 10, 2005
Members of a Louisiana Senate committee complained over the small percentage of post-Katrina federal contracts going to Louisiana companies, but praised the Shaw Group for awarding 91 percent of its federal contract dollars to Louisiana subcontractors, the Shreveport Times reports. Only 4 percent of the other $3.5 billion in FEMA funds has filtered to local businesses, the state economic development secretary said.
Few La. firms get FEMA contracts
November 9, 2005
Facing the usual winter building lull at home and better chances of getting Gulf Coast reconstruction jobs, Michigan contractors are planning to seek work there, according to the Ann Arbor News. Last week's decision to rebid $1.5 billion in federal Katrina-related contracts is spurring some to try to take advantage of the $70 billion in federal funds committed to the region.
State could profit from hurricanes
November 8, 2005
The Washington Post reports that Katrina is the fifth-most-expensive hurricane on record according to the Insurance Information Institute estimates of $7.2 billion in insured losses. Meanwhile, a New York Times article notes that ousted insurance company chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg is among those starting offshore reinsurance ventures in Bermuda to take advantage of an expected rise in insurance prices after Hurricane Katrina. An increase in insurance prices of as much as 40 percent — particularly for property-catastrophe policies — is expected.
Ex-Marsh Chief Gets Reinsurance License
November 7, 2005
Postings on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site show five new contract awards by the General Services Administration worth more than a combined $5 million to provide FEMA travel trailers.
General Services Administration Contract Award Synopsis #1
General Services Administration Contract Award Synopsis #2
General Services Administration Contract Award Synopsis #3
General Services Administration Contract Award Synopsis #4
General Services Administration Contract Award Synopsis #5
November 4, 2005
A posting on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site shows a new contract award by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Continental Construction Company, Inc. worth more than $5 million for post-Katrina repairs and modifications in Orleans Parish, La.
IHNC West Side IHNC to France Road Vicinity of France Road Ramp Station
November 3, 2005
In a congressional hearing on post-Katrina floodwall failures, engineers who have examined the repaired levees said that they could pose a risk to residents moving back to New Orleans, according to the Associated Press. The levees might not hold if another hurricane strikes, they said, because there was little engineering guidance during repairs and low-grade materials might have been used.
Engineers Fear Levee Repairs Not Enough
November 1, 2005
A posting on the Department of Defense Web site shows that Continental Construction Inc. of Memphis, Tenn., was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract in excess of $5 million by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Oct. 25 to make repairs and modifications to the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal West Side to France Road in Orleans Parish, La. The work is expected to be completed by April 15, 2006.
Department of Defense Contract Award
Another Department of Defense site posting shows that James Construction Group LLC of Baton Rouge was awarded a $30.6 million firm-fixed-price contract on Oct. 25 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for emergency restoration of New Orleans' back levee to CSX Railroad. The expected date of completion is April 1, 2006.
Department of Defense Contract Award
October 31, 2005
A posting on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site shows that James Construction Group LLC of Baton Rouge, La. received a contract worth nearly $2.8 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for restoration work on a pump station in Orleans Parish. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Contract Award Synopsis
October 27, 2005
Two employees of BE&K Inc., an Alabama-based subcontractor working for Halliburton at the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station near New Orleans, were found to have made false statements on job applications and were removed from the job site by the company, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, blocked 10 workers from entering the base after it was determined that they were not properly documented.
Yahoo! News looks at Florida-based AshBritt's $500 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers debris removal contract. The company has a successful track record dating back to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but also has several inside-the-Beltway connections.
Anatomy of a Katrina Cleanup Contract
A posting on the Department of Defense Web site shows that Manson Gulf L.L.C. of Houma, La., was awarded an $11.7 million firm-fixed-price contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Chaimette Area Plan Emergency Restoration on Oct. 10. Work will be performed in Houma, La., and is expected to be completed by April 1, 2006.
Department of Defense Contract Awards
October 26, 2005
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards today. The total spent on post-Katrina contracts stands at $625 million (most FEMA and Defense Department contracts are not included).
October 25, 2005
As of Oct. 10, only about 2 percent of the roughly $3 billion awarded by FEMA for Hurricane Katrina recovery work has gone to Mississippi businesses, reports the Clarion-Ledger. One of the state's largest construction firms, Hill Brothers Construction, lost out on a $500 million debris-removal contract to Florida-based AshBritt Inc. despite being among the first to respond to the disaster. State and federal officials promise that Mississippi businesses will get a larger share of the work as the recovery effort goes on.
Out-of-state contracts criticized in Miss.
WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss., reports that FEMA could have used about 1,200 homes manufactured by in-state companies to help post-Katrina survivors, but opted to use out-of-state companies instead.
Manufactured Housing Industry Upset Over FEMA Contracts
The Denver Post reports that MWH Global, of Broomfield, Colo., which has received contracts worth millions of dollars from both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of New Orleans to remove debris, has contracted with several local companies to haul away New Orleans area sludge and debris. A company spokesperson has said that finding local workers was now the company's greatest challenge: "It was really a stretch to find the local (contractors) because a number of them haven't come back to town," he said.
MWH oversees hauling of Katrina debris
Postings on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site show three new contract awards by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Hurricane Katrina-related construction and civil engineering work:
- Bucktown Contractors Inc. of Metairie, La., was awarded a $567,000 contract for construction work on hurricane protection structures and facilities in the areas from New Orleans to Venice.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Contract Award Synopsis # 1
- LL&G Construction, Inc., of Houma, La., was awarded a contract worth more than $847,000 for heavy and civil engineering construction work around Lake Pontchartrain and the Orleans Parish vicinity.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Contract Award Synopsis # 2
-M. R. Pittman Group LLC., of Harahan, La., was awarded a contract worth more than $4.5 million for hurricane protection repairs and modifications in New Orleans.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Contract Award Synopsis # 3
October 24, 2005
Equipment operators, truck drivers and other subcontractors are finding themselves several tiers removed from the federal funds for the Hurricane Katrina cleanup and fighting for a share of residuals of the $2 billion in contracts awarded to the four main contractors, the Associated Press reports. Some complain of lower wages than they made during hurricane cleanup in Florida last year and say that they are barely breaking even.
At bottom of contract food chain, haulers scramble for a share
Federal officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding the employment of at least 10 undocumented immigrants who did post-hurricane reconstruction work at the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station near New Orleans, USA Today reports. Navy spokesman Lt. j.g. Sean Robertson said the undocumented workers worked for Texas-based BMS Catastrophe and BE&K, an Alabama-based subcontractor working for Halliburton.
Illegal workers found at La. base
A posting on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site shows that Granite Construction Company of Watsonville, Calif., was awarded a nearly $14.4 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction work on a hurricane protection levee in St. Bernard Parish, La.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Contract Award Synopsis
October 20, 2005
The Associated Press lists the 10 largest contracts awarded by the government for cleanup and recovery after Hurricane Katrina. The top five each have values of $500 million or more. All 10 were awarded to companies based outside of the affected region.
A look at the 10 largest contracts for Katrina cleanup
The Associated Press follows up on its list of the 10 largest Katrina contracts, finding political connections to be a common theme among the winners.
Katrina's big contracts go to political loop
Orleans Levee Board President Jim Huey's effort to steer two no-bid, post-Hurricane Katrina contracts to relatives has drawn the scrutiny of state officials, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. One contract calls for leasing office space from board legal consultant George Carmouche, who is a cousin of Huey's wife. The other gives a company owned by Carmouche's son the task of coordinating the salvage of boats damaged or destroyed by the hurricane at the board's two marinas. Huey claims that the two contracts were awarded under emergency conditions immediately following the storm.
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards today. The total spent on post-Katrina contracts stands at $354 million (most FEMA and Defense Department contracts are not included).
October 18, 2005
The influx of Hispanic workers from Texas in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged region has some officials worried about long-term demographic changes and the more immediate effect of local residents being squeezed out of reconstruction job opportunities, according the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
A Transportation Department memo released yesterday found that a Federal Aviation Administration contract to hire buses, trucks and planes for hurricane relief efforts lacks control and oversight, reports the Associated Press. Under the four-year, October 2002 contract with Landstar Express America Inc., the FAA has spent almost $290 million to provide emergency transportation services. The Transportation Department Inspector General found instances in which the FAA did not properly record or track expenditures.
Report: Katrina Spending Lacked Controls
October 17, 2005
Last Friday, the Associated Press reported that $347 million was being spent with little or no competition, despite a FEMA pledge to reopen such agreements.
FEMA still spending on limited competition contracts
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco has requested that FEMA institute rules to secure more contracts to local-area businesses according to a report posted on BayouBuzz.com.
Louisiana Governor Blanco Requests FEMA To Use Locals As Prime Contractors
Most evacuees had moved out of emergency shelters by Saturday, according to the Associated Press, which reports that some 600,000 people have been placed in hotels at a cost that could reach $425 million by next Saturday.
Most Katrina shelters cleared but housing problems remain
Coast Transit Authority of Gulfport, Miss. has received a $1.4 million award from the Federal Transit Administration to help restore bus routes in three Mississippi counties, according to the Associated Press.
Federal funds to help provide coast bus service
The New York Times recounts a tour of trash piles in New Orleans, where contractors hauling away garbage could be kept busy from seven months to two years.
In New Orleans, the Trashman Will Have to Move Mountains
October 14, 2005
An article by the Center for Responsive Politics analyzes the political ties of some of the companies that have won the bulkiest Hurricane Katrina-related contracts. Among them:
- More than 86 percent of the federal contributions by employees of Florida-based AshBritt Environmental since 1999 have been to Republican candidates. Federal investigators are looking into a $568 million Katrina contract for debris removal awarded to the company by the Army Corps of Engineers.
- Two other companies that got big Katrina contracts, Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root and Shaw Environmental, are represented by lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, a former Bush administration FEMA director who also served as George W. Bush's gubernatorial chief of staff in Texas.
- About 60 percent of Carnival Cruise Lines employees' political contributions since 1999 have landed in Republican pockets. The company got a $236 million contract to house Katrina evacuees aboard three of its ships.
AshBritt Environmental's debris removal contract, now under scrutiny by federal investigators, comes as little surprise if one examines the company's record for getting government business. An investigation by the The Sun-Sentinel newspaper finds that Randal Perkins, a Republican Party contributor who runs the company, aggressively lobbied the office of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2004 seeking state business during the hurricane season. Records show that then-state Transportation Secretary Jose Abreu complained with the governor about AshBritt's lobbying blitz.
Aggressive lobbying by Pompano alarmed adviser to Gov. Bush
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards yesterday. The total spent on Post-Katrina contracts stands at $345 million (most FEMA and Defense Department contracts are not included). According to the database, the four companies that have received the biggest single contracts (ranging from $15 million to $50 million) are: AmeriCold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc. and Motorola.
Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu offers highlights of the $250 billion Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act, which she co-sponsored. Expenditures include: $10 million for affected alligator farms in Louisiana, $34 million to study the damage to the state's forestry and $150 million for a historic preservation grant program.
Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act
October 13, 2005
Need a Katrina contract from FEMA? Hire James Lee Witt, the agency's former head during the Clinton administration. The former federal official-turned-disaster consultant/lobbyist helped Atlanta-based AmeriCold Logistics win contracts worth up to $85 million for work related to Katrina and other 2005 storms, USA Today reports. Witt has also been hired as a consultant by clients that include the state of Louisiana.
Ex-FEMA chief's client won contract
The New York Times reports on the troubled FEMA program for housing Hurricane Katrina evacuees. As of Tuesday, nearly 600,000 people were living in hotel rooms across the country at a daily cost of $11 million paid for by the federal government. Meanwhile, FEMA has only delivered 7,308 travel trailers of the 300,000 it told Congress it would acquire for about $2 billion.
$11 Million a Day Spent on Hotels for Storm Relief
The Times-Picayune reports that the Army Corps of Engineers plans to rebuild New Orleans' breached levees with much stronger, fortified walls. The work will cost an estimated $400 million; the contracts were put out for bidding this week.
New levee walls to be built deeper, stronger than before
The Army Corps of Engineers has posted the list of Katrina-related contracts as of Oct. 6.
Army Corps of Engineers contracts
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards yesterday. The total spent on Post-Katrina contracts stands at $333 million (most FEMA and Defense Department contracts are not included). According to the database, the four companies that have received the biggest single contracts (ranging from $15 million to $50 million) are: AmeriCold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc. and Motorola.
October 12, 2005
The Department of Defense yesterday posted details of two contracts awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services. The $43 million in competitive contracts include reconstruction, reproofing and debris removal work at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pascagoula, NAS Gulfport, Stennis Space Center and other Navy installations in the Southeast. The Pentagon also awarded a $20 million, no-bid contract to Louisiana-based Science and Engineering Associates to provide technical service support to critical Navy programs.
The Center for Public Integrity profiled Kellogg Brown & Root and its longstanding government ties in the 2004 project "Windfalls of War."
Kellogg Brown & Root background
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards today. The total spent on Post-Katrina contracts stands at $326 million (most FEMA and Defense Department contracts are not included). According to the database, the four companies that have received the biggest single contracts (ranging from $15 million to $50 million) are: AmeriCold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc. and Motorola.
October 11, 2005
While FEMA promises to be more inclusive in its contracting process, stories by WLBT of Jackson, Miss., and U.S. News & World Reports show that local minority-owned businesses are not yet seeing results on the ground.
FEMA's failure to have a plan to pick up bodies of those who died after Hurricane Katrina hit and the "bureaucratic quagmire" bemoaned by the company it finally hired illustrate a pattern of breakdowns in the agency's relationship with the private sector.
Lack of Contracts Hampered FEMA
Disaster consulting firm Witt Associates is advising the governor of Louisiana on recovery efforts, helping employees of a Mississippi company whose casino was destroyed by the hurricane, and aiding New York client Allstate Corp. in pushing for the creation of a catastrophe fund that will ease the burden on disaster insurers. According to The New York Times, what has kept the consulting shop busy post-Katrina is its owner, James Lee Witt, who was director of FEMA during the Clinton administration. Witt, said to be one of the savviest, and best-connected, professionals in the country on disaster relief matters, says that he is not profiting from the devastation in the Gulf Coast.
FEMA director under Clinton profits from experience
To FEMA, the $236 million contract with Carnival Cruise Line to house Katrina victims aboard ships is an example of dealing with disasters in creative ways. To critics and watchdog groups, the deal is a paradigm of waste of federal funds. Today, the Houston Chronicle reports that the shipboard stay for a family costs more than the average house value in New Orleans.
Tab for using cruise vessels as Katrina housing criticized
As the United States faces its biggest recovery effort ever, public officials, private contractors, Congress and the media should play a role in assuring that federal funds are well-spent, an opinion piece in Washington Technology suggests.
Buy Lines: Katrina projects give procurement teams a chance to shine
October 7, 2005
Top government officials who managed U.S. reconstruction projects in Iraq have been hired by some of the giant construction companies that got deals in Iraq and now are profiting from Katrina, Reuters says. Some have obtained positions with Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel National Inc., and Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. The Center for Public Integrity did an exhaustive investigation of Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction contracts in its 2004 project Windfalls of War.
Katrina work goes to officials who led Iraq effort
October 6, 2005
FEMA has stopped taking new applicants for a program that has housed about 6,000 Louisiana workers in nearly 2,400 travel trailers at refineries and other industrial sites across the storm-ravaged state, The Wall Street Journal reports. Angry Louisiana officials argue that the effort, aimed at restarting work key businesses, is one of the few that has effectively gotten evacuees into temporary shelter and back into the local work force.
Agency cancels a housing plan for evacuees (subscription)
Another WSJ article reports that FEMA has filled only a small portion of the thousands of requests for temporary housing in the Gulf Coast. The disaster relief agency has ordered 125,000 trailers and mobile homes, but said that only about 6,200 were ready to be occupied. Gulf Coast area officials complain that they have received only a few hundred so far.
FEMA's Next Crisis (subscription)
In Mississippi, MSNBC reports, the federal government is being criticized by some for overspending on no-bid contracts for portable classrooms and provisional roofs.
Critics question no-bid Katrina contracts
With the bulk of reconstruction contracts so far given to out-of-state firms, Louisiana's larger general contractors are concerned that they will be shut out of the key rebuilding jobs in the state, an article in The Shreveport Times says. Meanwhile, smaller contractors are concerned about the influx of their peers from other states because of expedited licensing.
Reconstruction needs to involve Louisiana contractors
As private companies hurry to get their share of federal contracts, a USA Today article analyzes some of the challenges in the "biggest home-rebuilding effort in recent U.S. history": financing, environment, and race and poverty.
Rebuilding after Katrina to take monumental effort
New Orleans' Times-Picayune says that debris removal in the city, contracted to be done by Tennessee-based Phillips & Jordan by the Corps of Engineers, may take years.
Cleanup crews clamor for share of big haul Drop
A Department of Homeland Security inspector general's report says that FEMA's computer systems were antiquated and slow, thus limiting the agency's effectiveness in responding to the 2004 hurricane season.
Computer systems at FEMA were lacking in 2004, says IG
October 5, 2005
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the four largest single contracts FEMA awarded for post-Katrina work total more than $1 billion and were given out on a limited competition basis . The beneficiaries are Circle B. Enterprises Inc., Gulf Stream Coach Inc., which received two of the contracts, and Morgan Building & Spas Inc.
DHS Hurricane Katrina Contracts
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards yesterday. Post-Katrina contracts total $303 million (the data don't currently include most FEMA or DOD contracts). According to the database, the four companies which have received the biggest single contracts ($15 to $50 million) are: Americold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc. and Motorola.
FPDS Hurricane Katrina Contracts
Corporate Watch—an organization that investigates "multinationals that profit out of war, fraud, environmental and human rights abuse"—notes that some of the same well-connected firms that got the biggest contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq are now benefiting from Katrina's recovery effort.
Big, Easy Iraqi-Style Contracts Flood New Orleans
Former President Bill Clinton said yesterday in Baton Rouge that FEMA should hire more local companies and workers to rebuild the hurricane-hit areas, the Shreveport Times reports.
Clinton to FEMA: Hire La. companies, workers
October 4, 2005
Despite government claims that it is trying to funnel contracts to small Gulf Coast companies, an investigation by The Washington Post shows that more than 90 percent of the money spent so far has gone to firms outside the states most affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Gulf Firms Losing Cleanup Contracts
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards yesterday. Post-Katrina contracts total $297 million (the data don't currently include most FEMA or DOD contracts). According to the database, the four companies which have received the biggest single contracts ($15 to $50 million) are: Americold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc. and Motorola.
As questions on Katrina-related contracts continue to arise, FEMA is also under fire for failing to disclose how it spent taxpayers' money after four hurricanes raked Florida in 2004. Three newspapers sued the agency when it refused to provide the pay-out records for the $5.3 billion that were awarded in after-storm contracts.
Newspapers seek access to FEMA files
The Advocate reports that the U.S. Corps of Engineers will oversee the removal of debris in St. Landry areas and municipalities. Members of St. Landry Parish Council want to make sure that parish contractors will be first in line for the job.
St. Landry OKs corps to oversee debris removal
October 3, 2005
The Boston Herald reported Friday that Bechtel National was awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to provide temporary housing to hurricane victims in Mississippi:
Dig contractor Bechtel gets big FEMA deal
September 30, 2005
Questions and concerns grew in Washington today about the hurricane relief process, with questions being raised on Capitol Hill about contracts for repairing roofs, housing evacuees, restoring education and providing other services for the Gulf Coast victims of Katrina and Rita.
The Federal Procurement Data System posted its latest information on hurricane-related contract awards today, including roughly $271 million for Katrina efforts. A quick run-through of the information—which does not include unreported contracts by FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies—reveals that roughly $236 million in aid is flowing through pre-established government purchasing agreements from the General Services Administration. Some $60 million in contracts appear to be have awarded with less-than-full competition. More than half of the reported amount, roughly $167.7 million in contracts appears to have gone to just five companies: Americold Logistics LLC, Clearbrook LLC, Asset Group Inc., Motorola, and East Alabama Portables.
Hurricane Katrina Contracts
Hurricane Rita Contracts
Knight Ridder reports that contractors, including the Shaw Group, are charging government as much as 10 times the normal rate to cover roofs with temporary tarps and perform other roofing repairs:
U.S. paying a premium to cover storm-damaged roofs
Telecommunications companies, including AT&T, MCI, and Qwest, are restoring telephone services under contracts with government agencies—sometimes made through handshake deals. The Center has reported extensively on the influence of communications companies, including a state-by-state breakdown released yesterday:
Telecom Firms Scramble to Give Storm Aid
The Wall Street Journal has more on how former FEMA officials Joseph Allbaugh and James Lee Witt are using their influence on behalf of clients:
Connections Are Key to Contracts for Katrina Aid (subscription required)
Reporting more on hotels in New Orleans, the Los Angeles Times says that FEMA has booked 20,000 hotel rooms:
New Orleans' Tourist Business Dealing With the Big Difficult
September 28, 2005
The Navy has announced the noncompetitive award of a $9.1 million firm-fixed-price contract to repair Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., to Whitesell/Yates Joint Venture of Biloxi.
September 27, 2005
Several government agencies and divisions have posted downloadable reports on contracts awarded through last Friday, although some of the most expensive, controversial contracts, including the more than $500 million Ashbritt award, are not listed:
Federal Government Procurement System - Excel File
Army Corps of Engineers 
September 21, 2005
The Army Corps of Engineers has posted two contracts for construction in Mississippi, each for $50 million, to CH2M Hill Constructors and W. G. Yates and Sons Construction Company:
Award Notice – CH2M Hill
Award Notice - W. G. Yates and Sons
The Corps has also raised a previous joint-venture contract to Carothers Construction and Zenex International's Aduddell Roofing from $20 million to $60 million:
More news today on cleanup efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi, including the participation of Crowder-Gulf, Ceres Environmental Services and Yates Construction in the more than $50 million effort.
City to clear private property
The AP reports on the Big Easy hospitality industry, including FEMA-contracted Starwood Hotels and Resorts:
Hotels, resorts rushing to reopen along Gulf Coast to handle rebuilding effort
September 20, 2005
All's mostly quiet on the contracting front this morning, with no new announcements of major awards for Katrina recovery. Amid calls for more oversight of relief contracting, the major papers announce the appointment of FEMA's ex-acting chief financial officer, Matthew Jadacki, to run the Office for Hurricane Katrina Oversight under the Department of Homeland Security. In other news, the head of procurement for OMB, David Safavian, is arrested on charges stemming from the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and contractors are lobbying to protect themselves from liability.
The Wall Street Journal reports that C. Henderson Consulting Inc. was awarded a contract for $5.2 million through the end of the month to provide ambulance services for FEMA, in a profile that looks at one of its subcontracters, GoldStar, one of several relief companies with checkered pasts:
Some Firms Hired in Katrina's Wake Have Checkered Pasts (subscription required)
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded an almost $10 million contract to help shore up Mississippi River levees to Merrick Construction Company of Cottonport, LA:
September 19, 2005
Newsweek tours the rebuilding menagerie being assembled in the Hurricane states, while Detroit Bureau chief Keith Naughton talks contracting with Competitive Enterprise Institute president Fred L. Smith:
Katrina Comeback I : Costs, Contracts, Confusion
The New York Times says FEMA's aid efforts are stumbling:
FEMA's work not enough, officials say
On Friday, FEMA said it had spent $763 million aiding state and local governments so far:
More Than $760 Million In Federal Dollars To Help Louisiana
Wall Street is smiling about Shaw and other contractors, according to Bloomberg News:
September 16, 2005
Today's highlight, other than the president's speech, was the announcement of four fixed-price debris removal contracts from the USACE, potentially worth a total of $4 billion including options:
Here's a press release:
Debris Removal Contracts Awarded for Hurricane Recovery Efforts, Says Army Corps of Engineers
Here's the Washington Post's take:
4 Firms Hired to Clear Debris in Gulf Coast
Pivoting off the president's speech, the AP has a quick summary of some of the projected rebuilding costs:
The Army Corps of Engineers has posted a list of its Katrina contract awards:
Hurricane Katrina Consolidated Contract Listing
Design and construction services firm Dewberry has a press release on its work assessing correctional facilities for FEMA:
Dewberry Sending Employees to Assist FEMA in Hurricane Katrina Response - Updated September 15
In older news, USA Today explored controversy behind the Shaw and Fluor contract awards:
Contracts for recovery work raise controversy
September 12, 2005
Boh Brothers Construction
In Storm's Ruins, a Rush to Rebuild and Reopen for Business
Fairfax Engineering Company Assesses Gulf Coast Damage
Storm Recovery Is More a Mission Than Opportunity
Sterling Construction Services Inc.
URS Corporation
S.F. engineering firms dispatch crews to gulf
See also: