Audit Unearths Over billing On Transport Security System

Audit Unearths Over billing On Transport Security System
A federal audit has revealed that a prime contractor for an airport security project has over billed taxpayers on labor and overtime.

Unisys Corp., a technology company was given a $1 billion contract by Transport Security Administration (TSA), shortly after 9/11, to create a state-of-the-art communication system to strengthen aviation security.

According to the reviews undertaken by the federal auditors, the Company has charged higher labor rates than permitted by the contract, leading to over billing that amounts to 171,000 labor hours.

To add insult to injury, the Company hasn't even paid the extra money to its employees. Unisys has already billed $940 billion to the government, an amount equivalent to the ceiling put on the project and this at a point when the project is nowhere near completion.

More Info

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, a need was felt for an information system that would connect TSA officials at hundreds of airports in the country with TSA's security centers. This information system would require hi-tech devices like laptops, mobile phones in addition to Internet connections and computer networks. The contract for the project was awarded to Unisys at a time when TSA lacked enough oversight specialists.

Apparently, Unisys charged almost double for the labor of its employees by designating lower-level employees as experts. The flexibility in the contract allowed Unisys to select higher labor categories for its employees.

Auditors also found that the timesheets were tampered with, long after the tasks that they represented were complete. Although the Company confesses lapses in internal control but claims that the increased cost was because more work was later added to the contract and that they knew all through that $1 billion would never be enough for the project.

Patrick Schambach, who managed the project at TSA when the contract was given, said that he cited $1 billion because the officials at a Transport Department told him that the figure would be more acceptable to the Congress.