Norton Contract Guard Reform Legislation Passes House Today (10/2/07)

Norton Contract Guard Reform Legislation Passes House Today
October 2, 2007

Washington, DC-At the request of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the Democratic leadership today expedited an important bill, H.R. 3068, the Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act of 2007, that passed the House today. H.R. 3068 prohibits the FPS from contracting with any security guard service that is "owned, controlled or operated by an individual who has been convicted of a felony" and would eliminate proxy ownership by felons of vital FPS contracting operations by relatives or spouses. "It was clear that H.R. 3068 was necessary when our Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management learned at a hearing on June 21, 2007 that a FPS security guard contractor had failed to pay 600 D.C.-area federal security officers or to make other important payments to pensions, health benefits, and the like," Norton said on the floor. "We are indebted to the contract security officers, who continued to come to work to protect federal workers, the visiting public, and the work sites, and we are indebted to their unions as well."

Norton said that in today's post-9/11 climate, especially in this region where most of the federal presence is located, it was shocking to learn that a felon contracted with an agency of the Department of Homeland Security and was running a security operation for the federal government. At a subcommittee hearing in June, Norton learned that Weldon Waites, who had served five years in prison for money laundering and fraud, was the de facto owner, with his wife, of STARTECH despite federal law barring felons from owning companies that do business with the federal government. In fact, it was Waites, not his wife, who came forward to defend the company after it failed to pay the 600 D.C.-based guards, despite receipt of funds for payment from FPS. Waites' testimony concerning his operational control of the company showed that federal law was being evaded because of loopholes. Norton introduced H.R. 3068 to strengthen existing requirements and prohibit proxy ownership by felons, including control or operation by an individual who has been convicted of a felony.

Norton worked closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency that monitors FPS contractors, and the security contractor unions, to develop solutions that would avoid unpaid guards and unpaid contractors in the future. H.R. 3068 is one of numerous steps that Norton required to be taken to reach a satisfactory level after contracting chaos was revealed in two separate subcommittee hearings. ICE has since met subcommittee requirements and has cleared the backlog of payments to all contract vendors nationwide, scheduled additional training of FPS regional directors and contracting officers, and developed and distributed guidance to contract guard companies to help them conform their own invoicing procedures to the new contracting system.