"When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, it copied the specifications — typos and all — from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract, a review of documents by The Associated Press found.

In a letter dated April 13, Senator David Vitter R-La., called on the Corps to look into how the politically connected company got the post-Hurricane Katrina contract. MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush's brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party.

In his letter to the commander of the Corps, Vitter said the bid solicitation for the pumps "includes specifications identical to those written and marketed by Moving Water Industries." In addition, "the testing specifications are also identical to the testing specifications developed and authored by MWI."

A May 2006 memo by a Corps inspector working on the project, provided to the AP earlier this year, warned that the pumps were faulty and would not work if needed to remove water during a hurricane. GAO opened its investigation after the memo surfaced."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070501/ap_on_re_us/katrina_faulty_pumps

Heck, why not? Take care of all of your corporate suckups regardless of the outcome. Yes, the pumps do look pretty, but the machines aren't actually supposed to work too are they? Oh, now really, that is far too much to ask for your millons. A water pump that pumps water? What a silly notion.

Government bids are often written that way. It doesn't make it right, but it is a common occurance.

I owned a 2Way radio shop in St. Louis in the late 70's, I was a RCA 2Way Radio dealer and serviced several police/fire departments and municipalities.

When they wanted a new radio, they had to go out for bid. The bid was always written around the radio that they had already decided upon.

For example I remember that one of the bids had specifications like "The control head will have a red light .17" from the right hand side of it"

There was of course only one radio that would fit that specification, the one they already had decided upon.

Motorola was notorious for "helping" municipalities write the specs!

Motorola...You can get better, but you can't pay more!

I wonder if MWI had anything to with Big Pipe?

Skeptical, I know Impreglio Healey did a damn fine job on the west side. Too bad they were frosted out on the east side. The lessons learned on the first pipe, one would think, would be indispensable. That is a good question that I will try to remember to ask my friends who worked the first pipe.

Bill, the Motorola set-up is a good example of a steady contract with a steady firm that kinda stinks. Unless it failed and left the fire department, ambulance and police in the dark, that shady crap didn't hurt anyone. Although the gear was not as good, at least they stood behind it.

However, when this administration botches one of the biggest natural disasters since the Missoula floods, it is not time to start handing out favors to old pals who build half-assed crap, fidget and make excuses. What if another hurricane hit the region? More deaths in the pocketbook? More gleeful developers?

I think this stinks to high hell.

You know about the Missoula Floods? Gosh, I think I love you more and more each day.

...In a Partridge Family kind of way, of course.

C'mon get happy! :0)

"You know about the Missoula Floods? Gosh, I think I love you more and more each day

....In a Partridge Family kind of way, of course."

If you knew what Keith and Laurie were doing backstage during the shooting of the show, you might rethink that comment.

I am partial to Susan Dey in a better not share the sleeping bag sort of way, so perhaps that wasn't the best example. :0)

I think that everyone responsible for the continuing tragedy of Katrina should have to live together in a house full of water, dead animals and fecal matter for a month this summer. I bet that when the ordeal was over, they could find some motivation.

Just add Danny Bonaduce, and it'll be fixed even faster!

Edsel, were they fighting over the blow dryer and hair spray, or was Keith needing some "first aid" from testing out Laurie's braces?

Let's not get to far off topic here folks. This is yet another scandal for the Bush administration, involving millions of dollars, corruption, and incompetence. Oh, and the lives of many, many people in Louisiana. How many more of these scandals are out there, waiting to be uncovered? How many more will the American people tolerate?

"How many more will the American people tolerate?"

It's sickening. But until a really dirty scandal hits people like HerrB, Okie and DJ and the rest of the other conservative middle-aged fairly well-off white men right between the eyes, in the sack and in the wallet, nothing will change until the next election, if even then.

We're lost, and powerless.

...not powerless.

We can vote and encourage others to vote. So don't vote GOP period, for any reason, encourage others to do the same. If the GOP ends up being half it's former size over this crap, there will be change.

The corps of engineers, as all govt agencies use carreer civil servants in contract services. They are from both parties, and any contracct is subject to appeal by the competitors.

The contracting personel are not technical specialists, so if an engineer requests something, he usually sends them a brochure or other literature showing what they want, so its not unusual for a companies tech spechs to show up in a rfp.

Nwokie, that may be true. But this direct connection to Bush's friends type of thing has happened way too much to be a coincidence. You've heard of Haliburton I assume?

Halliburton, formerly of Houston, now of Dubai. Yes, a country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Hmmm. Yes, another company no longer bound by American laws, moving quickly before any indictments come down. Vocally not in collusion with terrorists, but moving right into their backyard to do business. Oh, you do not think they profit from terror and terrorists, or the maiming and killing of servicemen, or the death and suffering of Americans on our own soil? Who got the contracts for Ground Zero? Who got the contracts in Iraq? Who got the contracts for Katrina?

"I'm sure everyone in Dubai, especially the government of Dubai, is ecstatic," Yusef Ibrahim, managing director for the Strategic Energy Investment Group (SEIG), told WBUR Radio's On Point program. SEIG's clients include some of the best-known Western corporations with business in Dubai, including Exxon Mobil, British Petroleum, Norway's Statoil, France's Totalfinaelf and JP Morgan.

Referring to Halliburton's move, Ibrahim made the following observations on the On Point program:

"I think they are rushing toward what I would call a 'comfort zone.' Dubai is a 'comfort zone' because what many people here, for example, in the United States would consider 'corruption' is not necessarily considered a vice in a place like Dubai. It's a very free-wheeling atmosphere where all kinds of businessmen come and they don't expect too many questions to be asked. Don't forget that Dubai from its inception was conceived as a place where you can -- how shall we say -- go around the rules. Dubai started out as a place from which you smuggled gold to India and the subcontinent. And then it evolved. And today it's still considered the largest spot on the earth where you launder money. All the Russian moguls came there. I don't mean that it's a place that spends all its time doing things that are irregular, but basically it prefers to let people work under soft light rather than under spotlights."

"Halliburton is a known quantity... It works in areas and with countries that deal in oil and weapons. Halliburton has worked with Iran in the past -- directly and indirectly. The Middle East is an area where you need some ambiguity when it comes to things like paying commissions. Other people would call it "bribes." But this is the way business is done out there. You can't be constantly scrutinized. You can't forget that Halliburton is now under tremendous scrutiny and a number of investigations. Especially KBR. It has had a history that has disturbed some people in Congress... they would feel a lot more comfortable in a place like Dubai."

"Part of this is a campaign of pressure, so that the United States and the SEC ease up on their scrutiny, which has increased tremendously in light of corporate compensation and the amazing packages we've seen in the last few years... Halliburton is part of a push back from the business community. After all who runs Halliburton? People who think they know better than the average person."

"I don't think Halliburton is doing this because its clients are having a hard time getting to the United States."

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/dubai2.html

I see Halliburton had the right CEO in the 1990's -- someone who was sneaky, deceptive and had a foul mouth -- Dick Cheney.

When Cheney finally kicks the bucket, he's gonna have a promient spot at the vp hall of shame, right next to spiro agnew. Dick Cheney, RIP.