KATRINA -- REPORT SAYS MILLIONS WASTED ON NO-BID CONTRACTS FOR KATRINA RECOVERY: 

According to a report by the Homeland Security Department's office of inspector general, "The government wasted millions of dollars on four no-bid contracts it handed out for Hurricane Katrina work." The Associated Press called the report "the latest to detail mismanagement in the multibillion-dollar Katrina hurricane recovery effort, which investigators have said wasted at least $1 billion." In the new report, investigators cite temporary housing contracts that were "awarded without competition to Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Group Inc., CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. and Fluor Corp." by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). Investigators found that FEMA "did not always properly review the invoices submitted by the four companies" and "also issued open-ended contract instructions for months without clear guidelines on what work was needed to be done and the appropriate charges," which "wasted at least $45.9 million." Approximately $20 million of the wasted money went towards "a camp for evacuees that was never inspected and proved to be unusable." FEMA said that it "generally agreed" with the report and "would further investigate the $45.9 million in questioned costs and recoup the money as necessary."

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