[CPEO-BIF] Katrina cleanup costs

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Multiple Layers Of Contractors Drive Up Cost of Katrina Cleanup

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post
March 20, 2006

NEW ORLEANS -- How many contractors does it take to haul a pile of tree 
branches? If it's government work, at least four: a contractor, his 
subcontractor, the subcontractor's subcontractor, and finally, the local 
man with a truck and chainsaw.

If the job is patching a leaking roof, the answer may be five 
contractors, or even six. At the bottom tier is a Spanish-speaking crew 
earning less than 10 cents for every square foot of blue tarp installed. 
At the top, the prime contractor bills the government 15 times as much 
for the same job.

For the thousands of contractors in the Katrina recovery business, this 
is the way the system works -- a system that federal officials say is 
the same after every major disaster but that local government officials, 
watchdog groups and the contractors themselves say is one reason that 
costs for the hurricane cleanup continue to swell.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/19/AR2006031901078.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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