Clinton Announces Final Senate Passage of Her Measure to Bar Bonuses for Underperforming Homeland Security Contractors

Press Release

Clinton Announces Final Senate Passage of Her Measure to Bar Bonuses for Underperforming Homeland Security Contractors

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced final Senate approval of a measure that will bar the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from giving award fees or bonuses to contractors without regard to performance. The legislation, which Senator Clinton authored, requires DHS to give award fees, or bonuses, to contractors only if the contractor meets specific outlined stipulations in their contract. It was approved by the Senate last night as part of the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill and will now go before the House for final passage before being sent to the President for signature.

"Time and time again we have seen the disastrous consequences of this Administration's lack of accountability. From Katrina to Iraq to homeland security, the Bush Administration has chosen to ignore or even reward bad behavior and incompetence. Coupled with the growing trend of outsourcing important government responsibilities to even less accountable private contractors, this constitutes a serious failure to govern," Senator Clinton said. "This measure will prevent the Department of Homeland Security from awarding generous bonuses to contractors who haven't earned them. In a time when high risk areas like New York are fighting for scarce homeland security funds, we cannot afford such undeserved giveaways."

A number of reports have revealed that the Department of Homeland Security has been giving private contractors award fees without proper justification. In 2005, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) awarded a contract to Boeing initially estimated to be worth $508 million. The Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security found that the TSA gave Boeing at least $44 million in award fees without evaluating the company's performance. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that despite documented problems in schedule, performance, cost control, and contract administration throughout the first year of the Coast Guard Deepwater contract, a DHS contractor had received a rating of 87 percent, which fell in the "very good" range and resulted in an award fee of $4 million.

Senator Clinton's measure requires DHS to give award fees or bonuses to contractors only if the contractor meets the stipulations related to cost, schedule, and performance outlined in the contract. If a contractor receives a poor performance evaluation, exceeds costs specified in the contract, or does not meet the deadlines specified in the contract, then the contractor will not receive an award fee or bonus from DHS.

Just recently Senator Clinton wrote to the DHS Inspector General calling for an investigation into the contracting practices by DHS. Click here to view Senator Clinton's letter.

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