How could the Army's premier hospital, Walter Reed, have mold, mildew,mice, and cockroaches? How could conditions get so bad at the Army MedicalCenter in Washington, DC?Support services at Walter Reed underwent a competitive sourcing studyunder OMB Circular A-76. In September 2004 the in-house bid won thecompetition. IAP Worldwide Services, however, protested the award. TheArmy Audit Agency was directed to re-evaluated the in-house bid. Itreportedly withdrew its certification and unilaterally raised the in-housebid by $7 million, making it higher than IAP's bid. The Army then reversedits determination and awarded the work to IAP. Employees seeking tochallenge this ruling were not permitted to make their case. Alan King,the Deputy Garrison Commander at Walter Reed, filed a protest with GAO, butunder the A-76 rules in place at the time, federal employees had nostanding to object to the determination. Thus, there was no re-evaluationof the IAP bid proposal.Skilled maintenance personnel and workers with specific knowledge of WalterReed's system and infrastructure left in droves. By the time IAP took oversupport services only about 60 out of some 300 employees remained on thejob....And yes, there is a link between IAP and Halliburton.Also see the House Oversight and Reform Committee's March 2nd letter toMajor General Weightman.Józef J. DrozdowskiNFFE Forest Service Council R9 VPTX: 989-739-0728 x 3017FX: 989-739-0347House VA Committee is Chaired by Bob Filner, D-CA. His press release is athttp://veterans.house.gov/news/110/03-02-07.shtml. Might be worth pointingout to him the problem was not with Walter Reed management, but in the A-76privatization. See http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1195, the firsttwo links under "Documents and Links" toward the bottom of the page. Basedon the news articles I've skimmed, it sounds a lot like the FS Serco story.Walter Reed management was against it, it was pushed down their throats byhigher-ups for political reasons, and the resulting and inevitable failurewas ignored as fastidiously as the fact that the emperor's new clothes werenothing but air. More links on this:http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1354http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1358Mark W Davis/FPL/USDAFS