Federal U.S. Inspector General investigating Gov. Scott’s DOT for hurricane cleanup contract’s high prices

A federal agency says it is beginning an investigation into Gov. Rick Scott’s Department of Transportation over questionable contracts to remove storm debris after Hurricane Irma last year.

The Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security said in a letter that it will audit the controversial contracts, which were first exposed by CBS4 in Miami.

CBS4’s report about high costs for taxpayers to clear away debris prompted 11 Democratic members of Florida’s Congressional delegation to write to the federal Homeland Security Inspector General, saying they were  “concerned that tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars are being squandered as a result of exorbitant price-gouging orchestrated by the governor of the state of Florida in an inept and possibly corrupt procurement of debris removal services following Hurricane Irma.”

Monroe County – which was hard hit when the category 4 Irma slammed into the Keys in September 2017 – had an existing roadway clearing contract with a vendor who charged $32 per mile, CBS4 reported, adding that Gov. Rick Scott instead brought in a contractor who charged $913 per mile. The Congressional Democrats noted in their letter that was a “2,753 percent increase.”

“For another service,” they wrote, “Monroe County has an appliance pickup contract in place that charged taxpayers $75 per item picked up. Yet the FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) contract paid $969 for the same service, resulting in a 1, 192 percent cost increase.”

According to the CBS 4 report, Monroe County had debris removal contracts already in place before the storm, but Gov. Rick Scott’s administration came in with new companies to take over after Irma hit – and they charged those much higher prices. In June, CBS4 reported:

“One of the companies selected had no previous emergency debris removal experience, while more qualified firms were prevented from even submitting bids. When CBS4 News first reported the story in October, it was apparent the new contracts were going to make the clean up more expensive.

We now know how much more.

The Governor’s emergency contracts will end up costing taxpayers an additional $28 to $30 million, according to an analysis by CBS4 News.

And those numbers could grow.

CBS4 News reviewed more than $43 million worth of invoices submitted to the state through February by Munilla Construction Management (MCM) and Community Asphalt, the two firms selected to operate in the Keys under the emergency contract.

If the Governor had instead used one of the companies already under contract with the state, it would have cost taxpayers as little as $13 million to do the exact same work.”

In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times when the news reports first broke, Scott’s office said:

“It is inaccurate to compare pre-disaster contracts with emergency debris removal contracts – it is comparing apples to oranges and must be reflected in your story.”

“It is the State’s responsibility to clear U.S. 1 following a storm, like Hurricane Irma because it is a state road. Clearing U.S. 1, which was accomplished in just a matter of days, was absolutely critical for the entire Keys community.”

Since President Donald Trump declared the area a disaster, most of the cleanup will be shouldered by federal taxpayers. In federally designated disasters, state costs are reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.