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Legislation prohibiting the Federal Protective Service from doing business with security guard companies owned or operated by felons passed the House Tuesday by a voice vote.

The bill (H.R. 3068) stems from revelations of financial mismanagement at Systems Training and Research Technologies (STARTECH), a company contracted by FPS to provide security guards for federal buildings in the Washington, D.C., area.

During a June hearing, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management heard testimony that Weldon Waites, the vice president of business development for STARTECH, and husband of the firm's owner, had mismanaged the company and failed to pay the contract guards for months.

Lawmakers also learned that Waites had been convicted of 29 felony counts of conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering and had served almost five years in prison before becoming involved with STARTECH.

Federal law prohibits the government from doing business with companies owned by felons, but since ownership was listed under the name of Waites' wife, his criminal status did not come to the agency's attention during the contracting process. Despite not being the formal owner, the hearing made clear that Waites had primary control of the 75 percent of STARTECH his wife owned.

"Waites' testimony concerning his operational control of the company showed that federal law was being evaded because of loopholes," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the bill's sponsor, in a statement.

The measure is intended to strengthen existing requirements and "prohibit proxy ownership by felons, including control or operation by an individual who has been convicted of a felony," the statement noted.

The legislation is one of several steps Norton has taken to ensure that security guard contracts for federal buildings are well-managed, and not only on the industry side. In the hearings, FPS also was accused of not making timely payments to contractors, in turn making it difficult for them to pay employees on time. According to Norton's statement, the subcommittee worked with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, the agency that houses FPS, to encourage improvements there as well.

Norton first announced the legislation in a joint conference with ICE chief Julie Myers in July. Myers pledged to reform the agency's own "chaotic" invoicing system and appoint an ombudsman to oversee the payment system and act as a liaison with the contract guard companies. The agency has since cleared the payment backlog, increased training for FPS contracting officers and developed a new blueprint for contract guard companies to help them manage invoicing procedures.

COMMENTS

• Hi there freindly neighbors and citizens alike. I think this issue is very misguided and misunderstood by the general public. as to what is Government and what is not. If you think you can dabble in politics without the mudslinging, slander, libellous and reputation ruining and credential destroying strategies and tactics that are employed by todays politics and governmnet agents then you must be living in a bubble. Face it folks; the government is not CHURCH; do not ecpext honesty and goodness here; furthermore take a look at what the Government reallly is: A PRISON and PENITENTIARY: most of you'all think its a museum of some sorts. We build Billions of dollars in ammunition and weaponry and face it folks - you have to be worse than any felon to belong to this group of leaders of so proudly claim 'to be making this better for us all' when obviously they keep making things worse in a corrupt; money hungry system where selfish self-servient interest is the priority and the public; the least of anyones concern. Duke Nukem Posted October 9, 2007 4:43 PM
• Let's stay on point folks! The issue should be;" How do we attract and keep quality security officers for federal sites? The basic function of government is security and that is where the emphasis should be. The emphasis in the congressional debates appears to center on the terms of "the business deal" for security. Most contract security officers in California receive no medical, no retirement, and no peace officer authority. There are plenty of inspectors and inspectors who inspect the inspectors. This welcomed heightened oversight will not work without more emphasis on the compensation and training of the persons actually manning the posts. You get what you pay for! Hello? If you increase qualifications you are now competing in the pool of candidates for law enforcement careers. Law enforcement and corrctions agencies are generous and cannot hire QUALITY personnel fast enough. There are posters on buses, law enforcement vehicles and billboards wherever I go. This is just another example of the "tapeworm economy." Lucrative tax payer funded contracts are handed out again and again to private corporations who take the lion's share and fail to deliver. The media is replete with stories of guards failing to show on post, sleeping on posts( working two or more jobs?), faiing to be paid or trained, mishandlling of dangerous materials or bungled incidents. Get rid of these parasitic private contractors. The security officers that guard our federal host agencies are dedicated personnel not "widgets" or "chattel" or numbers on a corporate balance sheet! Ronald Parvanian J.D. Posted October 6, 2007 2:26 PM
• It's great the bill was passed, that takes the Federal government off the hook. Now...who's looking out for the former Startech employees (hourly & salaried staff) who still have not received the back pay owed to them by Weldon Waites. The DOL of supposedly been working on the issue since June 2007, at least for the former Startech hourly employees, and still no one has received a penny. I am a former salaried Startech employee and it was made clear to me by the DOL that they were not working on getting the back pay owed to me! If the DOL isn't going to help us, who is. Diane Kaas Posted October 4, 2007 10:04 PM