A new Illinois Watchdog report concerning Tammy Duckworth’s spending habits as Barack Obama’s appointee to mismanage the OPIA adds devastating new context to the criticism she faces for her tenure as Rod Blagojevich’s appointee to mismanage the IDVA.
Long before Defendant Duckworth wasted taxpayer dollars on her legal defense fund in Illinois, then Assistant Secretary Duckworth wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on a failed marketing campaign in Washington, DC:
Duckworth, the former assistant secretary for the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, is at the center of an inspector general’s report blaming Duckworth and the office for wasting $5.2 million in taxpayer money on a failed veteran outreach initiative…“OPIA could not demonstrate that contract activities resulted in increased awareness of and access to VA healthcare, benefits, and services for veterans," stated the November 2014 Inspector General Report…Duckworth’s office literally doubled down, subsequently allowing the company to double the value of its contract to $10.26 million to cover “advertising costs incurred” in fiscal 2011, the report found. __Duckworth’s office could not provide any evidence Woodpile’s services made any measurable difference.__
As The Daily Caller adds, Duckworth – who would go on to become one of the most ineffective Members of Congress, "did not implement any performance metrics to assess the effectiveness" of the contractor’s work.
Without performance metrics, Duckworth decided to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on a marketing campaign that put political interests over veterans’ care.
Sound familiar?
FLASHBACK:
Crain’s Chicago Business, 3/3/16: "Duckworth used vets’ post to build political career: Ex-deputy"
The woman who was Tammy Duckworth’s chief deputy at the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs says Duckworth was focused not on serving vets but "lights, camera, action! . . . Building a pyramid for herself politically." In an interview, Rochelle Crump, who was deputy director at the department for eight months until Duckworth pushed her out, contends that Duckworth, while well intended, was more about helping herself than doing a job for those who had been in the military service.
NBC Chicago, 3/4/16: "Duckworth Accused of Using VA Position to Advance Political Career"
*A former Duckworth subordinate claims the congresswoman used her position at the VA as leverage for her political career…Crump, who worked in the department for eight months before allegedly being ousted by Duckworth, claims the congresswoman used her position as director to gain notoriety and further her political career. “I felt she was building her way politically,” Crump said.
Barack Obama may have promoted Tammy Duckworth out of a job to hide her utter failures. The people of Illinois, however, have a higher standard for their United States Senator.
Report criticizes Duckworth for wasting $5.2 million on failed VA marketing campaign
Illinois Watchdog
By M.D. Kittle
June 22, 2016
http://bit.ly/28Nw1DR
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Duckworth, the former assistant secretary for the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, is at the center of an inspector general’s report blaming Duckworth and the office for wasting $5.2 million in taxpayer money on a failed veteran outreach initiative.
“OPIA could not demonstrate that contract activities resulted in increased awareness of and access to VA healthcare, benefits, and services for veterans,” stated the November 2014 Inspector General Report. “We also confirmed that OPIA solicited significant new outreach service contracts without evaluating the effectiveness of the previous contract.”
The OIG report, until now, has gone unreported, buried away in a stack of IG press releases.
Duckworth, a two-term House Democrat challenging first-term Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, for his seat, was in charge of an office found to have “inadequately managed and solicited contracts” during her time as assistant secretary between April 24, 2009, and June 30, 2011.
Particularly scrutinized was the $5.2 million-plus contract the office awarded to Virginia-based Woodpile Studios Inc., a Government Services schedule contractor that provides advertising and integrated marketing services, according to its website.
Woodpile was brought in to provide support for outreach campaigns and a “rebranding” effort.
An office memo, dated Jan. 11, 2010, insists that OPIA did not have the “expertise and/or staff to perform the required rebranding campaign. OPIA officials indicated that enlisting a contractor would be in the best interest of the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
It clearly was not, according to the inspector general report.
The IG notes that “invoices were issued that did not link to accomplishment of VA outreach goals.” Duckworth’s office used a “questionable … labor-hour order instead of a performance-based contract.”
There were no “performance metrics to fully access and monitor the outreach campaigns to ensure increases in access to VA benefits and services and services for veterans as intended,” the report found.”
Duckworth’s office could not provide any evidence Woodpile’s services made any measurable difference.
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More so, Duckworth’s office literally doubled down, subsequently allowing the company to double the value of its contract to $10.26 million to cover “advertising costs incurred” in fiscal 2011, the report found. The office did so without evaluating the effectiveness of the Woodpile contract, according to the report.
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The contracts were approved and implemented during her time as assistant secretary. She was in charge during much of the time in question.
The acting assistant secretary at the time of the 2014 OIG report agreed with all of the findings, and stated that all the concerns had been corrected in 2012, after Duckworth left the office.
“Ultimately, Woodpile billed OPIA in excess of $5 million, from FY 2010 to FY 2013, for generic labor services that lacked specific connection to VA’s strategic outreach objectives,” the IG report found. “The statement of work was too vague to determine whether the additional costs for advertising represented an acceptable use of funds under the contract or a cardinal change.”
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