Watchdog, GOP bark at $216M consumer office
WASHINGTON — A government watchdog criticized the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s controversial headquarters renovation, with an estimated cost of $216 million, saying there was not a “sound business case” for the project because the agency never analyzed other options.
The inspector general’s report said bureau officials have been “unable to locate any documentation of the decision to fully renovate the building.”
The bureau also failed to follow its own guidelines for approval by an internal investment review board because a required analysis of alternatives to the renovation was not completed, according to the report released Wednesday.
“We cannot conclude whether a complete analysis would have altered the decision to approve fund- ing for the renovation,” said the report by the Federal Reserve’s inspector general, the official watchdog for the bureau.
“However, without this analysis, the value of the (investment review board) process as a funding control is diminished and a sound business case is not available to support the funding of the renovation,” the report said.
Some House Republicans, who strongly opposed the creation of the bureau in the 2010 DoddFrank financial reform law, have been highly critical of the headquarters renovation.
They said the plan is too costly and shows there is not enough congressional oversight of the bureau.
Under the Dodd-Frank law, the bureau’s funding comes directly from the Federal Reserve and does not have to go through the congressional appropriations process. Congressional Republicans have been trying to change that arrangement.
“The continuously growing price tag is a tremendous waste of funds and, amazingly, there is still no assurance the $216 million price tag won’t grow higher,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who requested the report.
The bureau is renovat- ing the seven-story downtown Washington building that previously housed the Office of Thrift Supervision, which closed as part of the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations. Bureau officials said the 36-year-old building needed significant work, including updating its electrical and ventilation systems.
The bureau’s “headquarters is a government asset that is past its prime and needs to be brought up to current standards,” bureau spokeswoman Jen Howard said Wednesday. “Government buildings are frequently renovated.”
But the estimated cost of the project has been rising, adding to the ire of Republicans.
The cost increased from $95 million in early 2013 to $145.1 million late last year and now is $215.8 million, the inspector general’s report said.
Howard questioned the report’s cost estimate, saying it should still be $145.1 million. The $215.8 million figure includes related costs, such as moving expenses and renting interim space, the report said.