Philadelphia Inquirer
July 16, 2003
Government Contractor's Use Of Resort Hotels Spurs Inquiry
Airport-screener recruiters had lavish digs. The Transportation Security Administration is faulted.
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Investigators are looking into why the Transportation Security Administration paid a contractor to house recruiters for airport screeners at resort hotels featuring golf courses, pools and spas.
The inquiry by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general comes amid rising criticism by lawmakers who say the TSA will not detail where its money goes.
The inspector general is auditing bills submitted by NCS Pearson - now called Pearson Government Solutions - which the TSA hired to recruit more than 56,000 airport security screeners.
The inquiry was prompted by a letter from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), who questioned a seven-week stay by 20 Pearson recruiters at the Wyndham Peaks Resort & Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo. The resort boasts an 18-hole golf course, spectacular views, an indoor pool and fluffy robes.
Dorgan and Wyden said they asked for the investigation after an earlier inquiry was brushed off by TSA chief James Loy.
"TSA recruiters put staying at posh resorts ahead of their mission to enhance security at America's airports," they wrote in a June 27 letter to Loy.
The query about the Colorado hotel raised questions about other luxury hotels where contractors stayed, sometimes for months: the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Manele Bay Hotel in Hawaii, the Hawk's Cay Resort in the Florida Keys, and the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
How much the TSA spent on the hotels is still being tabulated, said Richard Berman, assistant inspector general for audits.
TSA spokesman Brian Turmail defended the stays, noting that special government rates were negotiated. Those rates run from $55 to $208 a night, depending on location, according to the General Services Administration.
The hotels were chosen based on price, availability, space, proximity to airports, and sophisticated internal telecommunications systems needed to process job applications, Turmail said.
Berman disputed Turmail's assertion about telecommunications equipment. "They did not have the kind of secure communications that were required, and they had to lease or import communication lines," which drove up the cost, he said.
Berman also said he understood that Pearson was hired partly because it had its own testing centers around the country, negating the need for hotels.
The decision to use hotels may have driven up expenses, Berman said. The cost of Pearson's contract rose from $104 million to $700 million in less than a year.
David Hakensen, spokesman for Arlington, Va.-based Pearson, referred requests for comment to the TSA.
Turmail said the TSA had withheld $90 million and could seek more from Pearson. The agency held the money after the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Pentagon's auditing arm, found that one-third to one-half of $18 million in expenses charged by a Pearson subcontractor could be characterized as wasteful and abusive.
The TSA, part of the Homeland Security Department, was created after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Congress gave it less than a year to replace privately employed screeners at 424 commercial airports.
The TSA met the deadline, but some in Congress believe it over-hired and has spent too freely in other areas.
July 16, 2003
Government Contractor's Use Of Resort Hotels Spurs Inquiry
Airport-screener recruiters had lavish digs. The Transportation Security Administration is faulted.
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Investigators are looking into why the Transportation Security Administration paid a contractor to house recruiters for airport screeners at resort hotels featuring golf courses, pools and spas.
The inquiry by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general comes amid rising criticism by lawmakers who say the TSA will not detail where its money goes.
The inspector general is auditing bills submitted by NCS Pearson - now called Pearson Government Solutions - which the TSA hired to recruit more than 56,000 airport security screeners.
The inquiry was prompted by a letter from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), who questioned a seven-week stay by 20 Pearson recruiters at the Wyndham Peaks Resort & Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo. The resort boasts an 18-hole golf course, spectacular views, an indoor pool and fluffy robes.
Dorgan and Wyden said they asked for the investigation after an earlier inquiry was brushed off by TSA chief James Loy.
"TSA recruiters put staying at posh resorts ahead of their mission to enhance security at America's airports," they wrote in a June 27 letter to Loy.
The query about the Colorado hotel raised questions about other luxury hotels where contractors stayed, sometimes for months: the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Manele Bay Hotel in Hawaii, the Hawk's Cay Resort in the Florida Keys, and the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
How much the TSA spent on the hotels is still being tabulated, said Richard Berman, assistant inspector general for audits.
TSA spokesman Brian Turmail defended the stays, noting that special government rates were negotiated. Those rates run from $55 to $208 a night, depending on location, according to the General Services Administration.
The hotels were chosen based on price, availability, space, proximity to airports, and sophisticated internal telecommunications systems needed to process job applications, Turmail said.
Berman disputed Turmail's assertion about telecommunications equipment. "They did not have the kind of secure communications that were required, and they had to lease or import communication lines," which drove up the cost, he said.
Berman also said he understood that Pearson was hired partly because it had its own testing centers around the country, negating the need for hotels.
The decision to use hotels may have driven up expenses, Berman said. The cost of Pearson's contract rose from $104 million to $700 million in less than a year.
David Hakensen, spokesman for Arlington, Va.-based Pearson, referred requests for comment to the TSA.
Turmail said the TSA had withheld $90 million and could seek more from Pearson. The agency held the money after the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Pentagon's auditing arm, found that one-third to one-half of $18 million in expenses charged by a Pearson subcontractor could be characterized as wasteful and abusive.
The TSA, part of the Homeland Security Department, was created after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Congress gave it less than a year to replace privately employed screeners at 424 commercial airports.
The TSA met the deadline, but some in Congress believe it over-hired and has spent too freely in other areas.