The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "no-bid contract" ...
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Cowboys of Kabul
US Protection and Investigations, a company owned by a Texas couple named Del and Barbara Spier, was, until recently, one of the largest security operations in Afghanistan. The company oversaw security of reconstruction projects but secured no-bid contracts, submitted false invoices, hired men from a notorious Afghan warlord, paid off militants and demonstrated many other corrupt actions. "The Cowboys of Kabul" details the actions of these and other corrupt contractors in America's war on terror.
Tags: USPI; Afghanistan; Spier; contractors; militants; fraud; security; contracts; military; private security;
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Inside National Grid's Secretive $25 Million
The reporters exposed a secret fund controlled by local power company National Grid. An add-on charge to each customer's monthly bill built a $25 million slush fund for two utility officials to spend on favored economic development projects.
Tags: electric company; utility fee; energy; rates; no-bid contract; favoritism
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Cape Utilities
"Property owners in the City of Cape Coral, FL were being asked to pay as much as $40,000 when public utilities (water, sewer, irrigation) lines were installed in front of their homes." The city paid major profits to one contractor, and then overcharged for the utilities and "ignored millions of dollars in savings."
Tags: Utilities; water; sewer; irrigation; utility bills; no-bid contracts
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Unconventional Spending
After a six month investigation, Reporter C. S. Murphy reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the "Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau spends more than twice as much money as a tytpical city tourism agency but can't show the public what it's getting in return for its money." Murphy also finds "The bureau's regular annual audits have repeatedly called for tighter spending controls and more accountability."
Tags: Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau; FOIA; LIttle Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission; CLinton School of Public Service; no-bid contracts; Cranford Johnson Robinson & Woods; Arkansas Tourism Development Foundation; Arkansas Ethics Commission; retaliatory firings; Arkansas Host Committee; Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce; African American fraternities
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Blank Check
The reporters investigated the District of Columbia's use of funds which broke laws intended to prevent waste and fraud, by spending $425 million in 2004 in no-bid contracts or through a back door that skipped procurement law altogether.
Tags: fraud; spending; contracts; procurement law; expense accounts; accountability; FOIA
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We overpay by 20% for military goods"
The Pentagon's prime vendor program costs taxpayers about 20 percent more for goods. The Pentagon does not shop for the cheapest goods but employs middlemen who charged $20 for plastic ice cube trays and $32,000 for refrigerators.
Tags: military budget; Pentagon; no-bid contracts; army; armed forces
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UConn 2000
This series investigated the construction program at the University of Connecticut, exposing significant flaws, safety violations and cost overruns in the $2.5 billion program, the largest public building project in state history. The Courant found that the university ignored recommendations from auditors on construction and budgeting issues, resulting in cost overruns and safety violations that will cost millions to correct. The university withheld critical audit findings from the state legislature even as it was requesting more than $1 billion in additional public funding. The university changed the dimensions of a student-housing complex to bypass state fire inspections that would have delayed construction. The university handed out no-bid contracts, in some cases to contractors who increased their donations at the time they received the work.
Tags: University of Connecticut; UCONN; safety violations; cost overruns; public construction; auditors; budget; Connecticut state legislature; public funding; contractors
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Turmoil at UMDNJ
This extensive nine-month investigation into the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey first began with a "mysterious check made out to a dead man." What resulted were more than 70 stories uncovering years of corruption, political patronage, conflicts of interest, millions of dollars in no-bid contracts and bonuses for administrators and more. At the end of the investigation into UMDNJ, the U.S. Attorney ordered a federal monitor to take over--the first time ever that a state university had to be taken over by the federal government.
Tags: fraud; Medicare; Medicaid; corruption; James McGreevey; contracts
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Youth Charity Falls Short of Promise
The Florida Youth Conservation Corps is a nonprofit designed to provide life-skills training to disadvantaged youth. For these ends, the organization is given millions of dollars in no-bid roadside maintenance contracts. However, this investigation found that the money seems to be going towards travel, sponsoring a little league baseball team in the Dominican Republic, and employing relatives of the executive director, rather than to disadvantaged youth.
Tags: charity; 990s; nonprofits; FOI; backgrounding; education; youth services; state government
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Lobby Watch
The Center for Public Integrity's Lobbywatch project revealed many important and litte-known facts. Among them are: news organizations report on campaign contributions about ten times more often than they do on federal lobbying even though money from lobbyists to candidates is roughly double what candidates receive from campaign contributions; "almost 20 percent of all lobbying forms are filed late"; nearly 300 lobbyists or lobbying organizations did not register themselves as required by law; foreign companies and governments spent millions to win $15 billion in Defense Department contracts, more than a third of which were no-bid. And there's much, much more!
Tags: military contracts; foreign companies; Congress; politics; politicians; no-bid contracts