Protect taxpayers
Rules waiver on border wall unwarranted
The plan for building the border wall between the United States and Mexico shouldn’t include setting up taxpayers for fleecing. The Department of Homeland Security is doing just that by waiving federal contracting rules to get 177 miles of the wall in four states built as quickly as possible. That decision must be reversed.
Competitive bidding and certified cost estimates, among other provisions of the rules to be waived, protect taxpayers and the government from the potential for waste and fraud.
Tossing out the rules won’t gain much time for the project. Estimates by the department indicate the waiver would shave perhaps 30-60 days off the timeframe of the project. In exchange for the time savings, the government could get unchecked unnecessary costs. The requirement for certified cost estimates means that contractors must tell the department how much they pay for labor and parts. Without that control, when the bill comes in, it could result in sticker shock.
While waivers have been granted previously during this administration, all have been environmental impact waivers. This is the first waiver of federal procurement rules. If the waiver is allowed to go unchallenged this time, it’s bound to be deployed again.
Chad Wolf, acting secretary of Homeland Security, said federal law allows the department to waive the procurement rules. That an action is legal does not make it right. In this matter, it represents a bad policy decision and a failure of responsibility to guard a project funded by taxpayers from waste.
It’s essential that cost controls inherent in the contracting rules be maintained. Why? This 177-mile section of the wall is being paid for with $3.8 billion diverted from Department of Defense funding that would have created jobs related to aircraft and other procurements. The overall price tag for the wall has hit $11 billion.
All this may have something to do with an election year. The president wants to get as much of that wall under construction as possible. That’s not a good reason to waive the rules. President Donald Trump doesn’t need to prove his point with voters — construction is well underway.
Since American taxpayers, not Mexican taxpayers, are paying for the wall, the administration should protect them.