Follow Up

A follow-up to my posting last week about the "raise" that ICF International received from the state of Louisiana (see below, Stunning Numbers, posted 3/13/08)......
Here's excerpts from a story in today's Times-Picayune:

Jindal Wants to Broaden Inquiry Into Raise for ICF

By Bill Barrow

BATON ROUGE -- The Jindal administration has asked the state inspector general to join the legislative auditor in examining former Gov. Kathleen Blanco's decision to grant a raise to the firm that runs the state's much-criticized Road Home grant program.

Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, said Monday that he asked for the expanded review at the urging of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has criticized the $156 million raise that his predecessor approved for ICF International five weeks before she left office. The company has been widely questioned over bureaucratic delays and failures that greatly slowed the process.

Legislative leaders, meanwhile, ratcheted up their rhetoric over the issue, with House Speaker Jim Tucker and Senate President Joel Chaisson II saying the Legislature will consider hiring its own counsel for a comprehensive inquiry into ICF International's two-year relationship with the state.

The latest Road Home wrangling follows revelations last week of the Blanco administration's late-hour decision that ICF, a Virginia firm that Blanco selected in 2006 to run the $7.5 billion Road Home program, could receive up to $912 million for its work, a 20 percent increase over the $756 million cap under the company's original contract.

Since The Times-Picayune reported the increase, Blanco and her top budget adviser have defended the raise, arguing that ICF must process more applications and pay out more grants than the initial contract assumed, even as lawmakers and others decry the possibility of paying more to a company whose performance has been so roundly criticized.

Answering criticism from legislators who said they were not informed about the raise, former Commissioner of Administration Jerry Luke LeBlanc suggested that a wide range of officials were involved.

Blanco released an e-mail statement from France, where she had public speaking appearances: "It was my understanding and belief that any contract change would be publicly noticed. I encourage Steve Theriot, the legislative auditor, whose office was consulted during negotiations, to continue to audit ICF and to hold them accountable for every dollar of their contract."

How much has work grown?

The December agreement bases the raise on the likelihood that ICF will pay out far more Road Home grants than originally expected. The document says the number increased from 100,000 to about 160,000. Yet the program launched expecting to pay more than 114,000 grants, and estimates for total grants have now dropped to as low as 128,000.