The Food and Drug Agency (FDA) has been accused of bid rigging in the case of a public relations campaign contract awarded to ANI and its parent company, Calista Corp. The contract has been suspended and is being investigated by Congress.
U.S. Government contract competition has requirements designed to get the best deals for taxpayers. These include such information as minimum acceptable specifications, qualifications, conditions, terms set out by the government in the “invitation-to-bid” document.
FDA Bid Rigging Plan
According to research done by the Washington Post and revealed in an article ( FDA Takes End Run to Award Contract to PR Firm) on October 2, 2008, a competition, as prescribed by government policy, was not held to get the lowest bid on a $300,000 public relations campaign contract. It has been learned that the FDA came up with a plan to make sure the work would go to a Washington public relations firm with ties to officials in the Agency who found a way around the standard government contracting procedures.
FDA Bid Rigging Plan Implemented
The contract was awarded in July 2008 to Alaska Newspapers Inc., a firm owned by an Alaska Native corporation that does not have to compete for federal work because it qualifies for special set-asides. The way it worked was for ANI to give the work to Qorvis Communications and under the circumstances did not have to follow U.S. Government bidding procedures. Steven Schooner, a co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University, said, ‘I have rarely seen such a detailed example of officials and contractors working to avoid competition.”
Among those implicated in the bid rigging is Mildred Cooper, a temporary FDA consultant hired on a two year contract to advise FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenback and other officials. She later became a FDA civil servant. Cooper had previously worked with Qorvis as a public affairs executive at Luna Innovations, a company that sells medical devices and other products whose clients include the Defense Department.
Congressional Investigation into Contract Award
The Committee on Energy and Commerce, chaired by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich), which oversees the FDA, will investigate the bidding contract procedures and award. He has provided a statement, saying that “This sham of a contract calls into question the integrity of federal contracts awarded to small businesses and Alaska Native corporations.” The FDA procedures have been the subject of congressional hearings since 2006 because of the mismanagement of its resources.
The FDA has been attacked by Congress in the past for poor inspections of tainted vegetables, drugs, and salmonella outbreaks. It continues to ask for more money from Congress, $275 million in 2008, including money to pay for a public relations campaign to improve its image. . This case of irregular bidding procedures has made it more suspect. Meanwhile, the FDA continues to express confidence in its contracting procedures.
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