Monkey see, monkey do… The latest is that FEMA employees are accused of soliciting kickbacks from a food contractor during post-Katrina recovery efforts in New Orleans.
The way they proposed to make their extra money is very similar to what some contractors in Iraq are claimed to do.
It’s called headcount. To make more money you simply inflate the headcount. That’s what the two FEMA stooges were alleged to be doing in New Orleans:
Prosecutors said the pair allegedly approached a local contractor and offered to inflate the head count for meals at the camp in exchange for a payoff. The contractor held a meal service contract, and would earn more money if the head count were inflated.
As usual, the news report fails to name the contractor. (Is that supposed to be good manners????)
I have an account of one major food contractor under KBR in Iraq who gave out raffle tickets to soldiers every time they visited the food line. It was an incentive not to eat more but to get in line more than once to get a ticket — it also puffed up the billable head count.
The contractor boasts of helping to boost soldier morale at the same time the raffle boosted the head count of meals served. KBR was in hot water for some time over misrepresenting the number of meals served, but a raffle apparently is just good business — on the U.S. Army’s dime.
The contractor repeatedly told me he would tell me everything about KBR’s operation as soon as he was paid tens of millions of dollars that KBR was holding on to during a Pentagon audit. Once he was paid, I asked to hear what he had to say. “Well, that was a long time ago.” Later, he added: “I am sick of hearing about corruption.”
(Are journalists the only people in the neighborhood expected to keep their word?)
And as far as headcounts are concerned, payrolls are inflated all the time on the cost plus contracts. MORE ON ALL OF THIS LATER.
