Sept. 12, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the U.S. Senate to reject Dawn Liberi to be U.S. Ambassador to Burundi in a vote tomorrow, citing Inspector General reports of her record as mission director for USAID in Iraq from 2005 to 2006:
“Eight separate inspector general reports that cover the short time period that Liberi was running the USAID/Iraq Mission all cover problems with keeping track of property or making sure that contractors were doing their job. One is particularly embarrassing — $90 million for the development of local Iraqi governments was not properly monitored even after the inspector general had already complained about the way USAID was managing the contract.
“These reports on Liberi’s tenure in Iraq are rife with waste and mismanagement, and raise the legitimate question of her competency. She could not have done a worse job than if she were attempting to actively sabotage these programs. The Senate must vet this nominee, not rubberstamp her confirmation.”
Here are selections from each IG report:
“USAID/Iraq property valued at $23.5 million in its nonexpendable property database was not managed in accordance with USAID guidance…. We could not verify the existence of a projected $2.9 million in nonexpendable property included in the database. Furthermore, Mission vehicles valued at $2.3 million were not properly safeguarded.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy06rpts/e-267-06-002-p.pdf
“We could not determine if USAID/Iraq’s local governance activities achieved their intended outputs because USAID/Iraq did not require Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International to submit all reporting and monitoring documents specified in the contract.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy06rpts/e-267-06-003-p.pdf
“ADF’s [a USAID/Iraq contractor] Performance Monitoring Plan was neither complete nor achievable.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-001-p.pdf
“USAID/Iraq failed to enforce contract requirements…. The audit also found that USAID/Iraq failed to perform the required contractor performance evaluations….The current audit found that the Mission’s actions taken in response to the prior audit to enforce the contract requirements and to complete the contractor performance evaluation were ineffective.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-007-p.pdf
“It was not possible to determine if intended outputs were achieved for the remaining 22 activities [of 61 total activities] due to a lack of adequate supporting documentation…. During the audit, we also determined that OFDA [USAID Office of Foreign Disaster] did not properly designate cognizant technical officers [who oversee grants and cooperative agreements].”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-006-p.pdf
“The lack of sufficient documentation was due to USAID/Iraq’s and Bechtel’s management oversight.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-004-p.pdf
“the audit found that USAID/Iraq’s education activities achieved 7 out of 16 selected intended outputs…. It could not be determined if two of the selected outputs were achieved due to a lack of sufficient documentation….The remaining seven selected intended outputs were not achieved.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-003-p.pdf
“USAID/Iraq did not properly administer its contract with Development Alternatives, Inc.”
http://transition.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy07rpts/e-267-07-002-p.pdf
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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