Colo. contractor accused of waste

CH2M Hill hired to put up shelters for Katrina victims

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 28, 2006 at midnight

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An Englewood-based corporation that received a $100 million federal contract to manage temporary housing for Hurricane Katrina evacuees is one of several companies nationwide accused of wasteful spending.

CH2M Hill Constructors Inc. is named in a report released Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform.

The report alleges instances of wasteful spending by more than two dozen companies that received 32 contracts worth $34.3 billion.

The CH2M Hill contract was for putting up temporary shelters for hurricane victims.

According to the company's Web site, CH2M Hill has put up 18,000 temporary shelters across the Gulf Coast.

The report doesn't detail where the alleged waste occurred in the $100 million contract, and company officials Thursday stood by the work they have done in the Gulf Coast region.

"We're going to look into this, but we feel we've performed extremely well for all of our clients," said John Corsi, spokesman for CH2M Hill.

Auditors found fault in the way contract spending has been growing within the Department of Homeland Security since 2003. The report showed that procured spending increased by 189 percent from $3.5 billion in 2003 to $10 billion in 2005.

The report slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency for spending in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, noting that FEMA bought 24,967 manufactured homes and 1,755 modular homes for victims at a cost of $915 million. But as of January, only 4,600 manufactured homes and 100 modular homes had been used for housing or offices, according to the report.

It didn't specify if those homes were from CH2M Hill.

The report's findings were not the first time that CH2M Hill has faced allegations of waste.

The Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General is reviewing complaints that the company - part of a joint venture overseeing the closing of Rocky Flats - threw large stores of new equipment away in the rush to complete cleanup last fall.

The allegations come from several former workers, who argue that the joint venture known as Kaiser-Hill didn't want to take the time to sell items such as tools and electrical supplies - many of them brand new and still in boxes - because the company was determined to earn tens of millions of dollars in early bonuses from DOE for finishing ahead of schedule and under budget.

Kaiser-Hill officials have denied that such practices were widespread, and have said they followed strict government standards on dealing with surplus equipment.

monterod@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5236

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