N.O. Pump Contract to Be Probed Again (Jeb * marketed pumps)

[babylonsister]

N.O. Pump Contract to Be Probed Again

By CAIN BURDEAU Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press


NEW ORLEANS — A federal agency says there is "substantial likelihood" the Army Corps of Engineers acted improperly in handling a politically connected Florida company's $27 million flood-pump contract after Hurricane Katrina.

The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that handles whistleblower complaints, has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to respond to its review of allegations by Maria Garzino, an engineer who was one of dozens of Corps personnel brought to New Orleans after Katrina.

Garzino was in charge of a team installing pumps manufactured by Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Scott Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel, wrote in a Sept. 21 letter to Gates that "there is a substantial likelihood that the information Ms. Garzino provided discloses a violation of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds and a substantial and specific danger to public safety."

By law, Gates must investigate the complaint and issue a report within 120 days.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5198303.html