NOTES ON EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COPIES OF FEDERAL CONTRACTS Every week the Washington Post publishes a list of federal contract given to firms in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. Michael Palemdo and Shawn McCarthy attempted to contact 81 firms that were reported as having received contracts in the May 10, 17 and 24, 1999 issues of the Washington Post. This included all contracts listed in the Washington Post on May 10, 1999, and a sampling of contracts from the May 17 and 24 issues of the Washington Post. For the contracts listed in the Washington Post on May 10, we also contacted the federal agency asking for a copy of the contract. In no cases did a firm or a government agency give us a copy of a contract, even though some persons promised to do so. On several occasions we were advised to file a request for the contract under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The following are our notes from our efforts to obtain the contracts. Mike Palmedo Shawn McCarthy FEDERAL CONTRACTS: WASHINGTON POST, MAY 10, 1999 Universal Systems & Technology, Inc. (Fairfax, VA) "We don t give out those documents. I would need to know what the specific use is for... You can make a FOIA request to the FAA." no name given DDD Co. (Landover, MD) No human answers the phone. Multiple messages left on company voice mail. S. D. Ashe Landscaping & Services, Inc. (Grafton, WV) Unlisted phone number. TechLaw, Inc. (Chantilly, VA) Secretary not sure of the proceedure prom ises to have someone else call back. This has not happened. Technology Advancement Group, Inc. (Dulles, VA) "This is a very unusual request, Are you with a law firm? You can call the Treasury Department and make a FOIA request. Jody Falrey may be able to help you. She is a government contracting officer and can be reached at 703-921-6281. I'm not sure what you would need the contract for. I hope you're not trying to get me in trouble." Mark Estuza InfraCorps, Inc. (Richmond, VA) "We don't hand those out to the general public. The National Park Service may be able to help you out." Comaqn Lytle Amos Bailey & Lee Ltd. (Baltimore, MD) "By law we are not allowed to provide that information. You may be able to obtain it from the postal service." no name given Nelson-Salabes, Inc, Notari Associates and Whitney Bailey Cox Magnant (Baltimore, MD) "I doubt very, very seriously that we, or any other company is going to send you a copy of a federal contract." no name given Webcraft Technologies (Washington, DC) "Call the Government Printing Office. They may have a jacket copy that they can give you." Jim Mittnia KC Industries (Forestville, MD) "I'm not sure I can do that. Why don't you send us a formal request by fax and be sure you include the reason." Pat Riley Horizon Consulting (Falls Church, VA) "My suggestion is that you apply for a FOIA request." Steve AMF Mechanical Corp. (Upper Marlburo, MD) "We didn't write that, the Navy did. You can get that from The Post." Mark Fowler Advex Corp. (Hampton, VA) "Why do you want a copy of the contract? That's not information we give out. If you want it, call the Coast Guard!" George Hill Belfort Instrument CO. (Baltimore, MD) Repeatedly left messages. No one has returned the calls. Atlantico, Inc. (Yorktown, VA) "Alrighty, let me look that up for you. I'll send it out." Charles Kraus. (Contract has not arrives as of 6-10-99) Buildall Construction Corp. (Baltimore, MD) Unlisted telephone number. Electro-Tec Corp. (Blacksburg, VA) "I'm not sure management would let me do that. However, that is public knowledge, so you might try the Commerce Business Daily. Or else you could probably find it on the Supply Center's website." Greg Foster Radigan and Radigan, Inc. (Reston, VA) "No contract was actually awarded It was just an agreement for displays." Andy Radigan Associated Naval Architects, Inc. (Portsmouth, VA) "Its much too large to send a copy of the contract. When you're talking about the general information of the contract, we're talking hundreds of pages here. And once you get to the specifics of the ship parts, its up into the thousands. I could try to answer a specific question if you have one." Brant Everhardt Johnson and Towers Baltimore, Inc. (Baltimore, MD) Left messages on Dianne's voice mail they were not returned. Fairchild Space and Defense Corp. (Germantown, MD) Put through to Elaine, who said she'd call back. She did not. Davis Boat Works, Inc. (Newport News, VA) "I tried to get the document off of adobe acrobat 4.0, but I couldn't locate it,so it is not posted and I don't have a copy. I'm sorry I couldn't help. Ms. Barnes Raloid Corp. (Reistertown, MD) "Okay, you can get a copy through the Freedom of Information Act through the government." Anthony Jadra Comptech Corp. (Rockville, MD) "I guess you can call the government and get a copy, because we won't give you one." Kavida Dawson D. W. Boyd (Norfolk, VA) "Sir, I don't understand why I'm supposed to give you a copy of my contract!" Mr. Boyd Mele Associates (Rockville, MD) "Unless you're interested in teaming with us, we don't normally do that." Barbara King Allied Technology Corp. (Rockville, MD) "Can I have your address... Who are you working for, Mike?" Jim Pitt DynCorp Information and Enterprise Technology, Inc. (Reston, VA) "You can FOIA that. We don't normally give that out." Joe Gardner The Mangi Environmental Group, Inc. (Falls Church, VA) "Sure, bye." Dr. Mangi Universe Technologies (Frederick, VA) "My question to you would be why do you want it'?" [I tell him I'm researching the use of taxpayer funds] "Well, alright. Give me your address and I'll print one up and send it to you." Sean Tucker. The contract has not arrived in the mail. DATEX, Inc. (Falls Church) "There really is no contract it's a GSA schedule and you can download it off their website." Trudy Jackson LBS Corp. (White Marsh, MD) "I suggest that you go to the issuing agency." John Trish Marshall Ford (Marshall, VA) "For what reason?... For what sort of analysis? I don't mean to be rude, I'm just being frank. I mean, I don't know who you are." Marshall Ford NCI Information Systems (McLean, VA) "If you need that information, you'd probably have to go to another agency. We're not in a position to give that to you because of security reasons." Pat DeSilva ITT Corp. (Roanoke, VA) "I belive that contract would be with ITT Night Vision." Tom Rosinwinter ITT Night Vision (Roanoke, VA) "I'm, like, totally lost. I have no idea what you're talking about." Allan Shreeman R. R. Donnelley & Sons (Falls Church, VA) "The GPO can furnish you with that." Lou Dords John D. Lucas (Baltimore, MD) You'd have to go through the Government Printing Office for that. You'd have to get it from them." Barry Haman Hercules Aerospace (Radford, VA) UNLISTED Summit Associates (Richmond, VA) No answer. Calls have been made repeatedly. Sociometrics, Inc. (Silver Spring, MD) UNLISTED Videla International Corp. (Alexandria, VA) UNLISTED Cottrell Contracting Corp. (Chesapeak, VA) "Why don't you call the Corps of Engineers." Joe Pollis Argo Turboserve Corp. (Virginia Beach, VA) "The contract is propritory between us and whoever ordered it." Summer Romig West Manufacturing Co. (Hagerstown, MD) "We've only gotten one government contract in May and that was really small only like $1000." Theresa Frost Electro-Tec Corp. (Blacksburg, VA) Grading Specialists, Inc. (Forestville, MD) "That's public information. You can get it anywhere you want... I'm too busy to run off a copy and send it to you. You might want to try the Coast Guard." Ronnie Wildiner Yellow Van Service, Inc. (Baltimore, MD) "Let me see what I can come up with." Ms. Hilwig (yet to come up with anything) Surplus Electrical Innovations, Inc. (Norfolk, VA) "You'd probably have to talk to the owner of the company for that, but she's out of town." Mary Surwila Fairchild Controls Corp. (Fredrick, MD) Left message on general voice mail. Montage, Inc. (Washington, DC) "Okay, I'll have someone call you back" Sheila Tavakoli "Okay, you're going to have to go through the Navy.. You're going to have to make a FOIA request." Emily Aitken Noel Systems, Inc. (Richmond, VA) "I thing you need to talk to the Coast Guard on that." Randy Sprig FEDERAL CONTRACTS: WASHINGTON POST, MAY 17, 1999 Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (Bethesda, MD) "I suppose you could call the FISC and get one from them. We don't give out contracts that we have with our customers, but I suppose that's public information, so you should call them. Hercules Aerospace (Radford, VA) UNLISTED WIN Laboratories, Ltd. (Manassas, VA) I will be very happy to send you one if you'll just give me your name... Oh, you want the actual contract! I don't want to put you off, but I don't know if I can release that. You might want to try the Treasury Department." GTSI (Chantilly, VA) Left message for Paul Forester. Orbital Sciences Corp. (Greenbelt, MD) Left message with Jennifer the secretary. SFA, Imc. (Largo, MD) "The contracts are propriatory, and we don't give them out to individuals who request them." Jim Fahr Master Security, Inc. (Hunt Valley) "I think you have to go through some government agency for that." Christine Utz Metro Machine Corp. (Norfolk, VA) Left voice mail for Michael Henton. Integrated Engineering Concepts (Alexandria, VA) Left message on general voice mail. Metro, Inc. (Reston, VA) "Well, we really don't do that. Contact FOIA, that's the Freedom of Information Act. You contact the government and they give you a little form to fill out and they actually give you the information. But going directly to the company is no the best way to go about it." Ed Cornell Gray Graphics (Capitol Heights, DC) "I believe... I don't think I'm allowed to give that... Why do you need my name? I don't think I want to give you that either!" anonymous J. K. Hill &n Associates, Inc. (Virginia Beach, VA) "You need to call the FOIA office. We just don't give out information like that." Ryan Knight Protective Services, Inc. (Capitol Heights, MD) "Basically, our company normally wouldn't give that information out, and I have no reason to believe it would in this case." Len Rob Jo-Kell, Inc. (Chesapeake, VA) "We wouldn't want to give that information out. I mean, not without more information about you. I mean, why would we want to give that out?" Wayne Sanford Centure Elevator, Inc. (Forestville, ME) "We don't give contracts out." Tammy Abascus Technology Corp. (Chevy Chase, MD) Left messeage on Jane Cross's voice mail. West Manufactuting Co. (Hagarstown, MD) PLACED ON HOLD INDEFINATELY Summit Associates, Inc. (Richmond, VA) No Answer. MobileComm (Columbia, MD) "I don't know who you'd talk to. Sorry." Nora FEDERAL CONTRACTS: WASHINGTON POST, MAY 24, 1999 TVI Associates, Inc. (Arlington, VA) "I think that you want to get it from the agency." Mary Tandra EG&G Services, Inc. (Gaithersburg, MD) "I'm sorry, I can't give out a copy of the contract. That's company property." Jeannette Gaylord Securigard, Inc. "I would suggest that you go through the FIFC. They're located in the Washington Naval Yard and they're the originator of the contract." Fred Williamson MRL Pharmaceutical Services (Hernon, VA) "I don't have the authority to release that, so I'll talk to the VP and call you back."Melanie Bossi JAD Business Services, Inc. (Shady Side, MD) "A copy of the contract? I don't understand what you're looking for... Who are you? That's personal information I can't give out." Associated Naval Architects, Inc. (Portsmouth, VA) "The thing to do is to contact the contractingagency. Anyone can get one. The Armey will charge you $12 to $13, the Navy posts them on the world wide web so you can get them for free, and the Coast Guard still mails them to you for about one hundred dollars." Mr. Kraft Lyon Shipyard, Inc. (Norfolk, VA) "I thin you've called here once before. The government will give one to you. Goodbye!" Did not give name, and we've never called that number before. Simtec Inc. (Manassas, VA) Left a message for Anne Marie Crosswhite. Lear Siegler Services, Inc. (Annapolis, MD) "We don't just hand out the contracts. If you call tommorow and ask for Andrea White, the director, and you state very clearly what you're looking for, we may be able to get you what youwant in some way other than giving you a contract." Deborah Book Dresser-Rand Co. (Chesapeake, VA) "Do you know which contract? There are a number of them." (I give him the info from the Washington Post blurb.) "Well, that certainly narrows it down. Let me see what I can find and get back to you." John Lee. Comptech Corp. (Rockville, MD) Left a message for Ms. Dawson. CONTRACTS II - THE BUREAUCRACY Federal Aviation Administration Department of Justice: "What you have to do is submit a FOIA request. The contract number is 99-C-0123 and we've been calling it "The General Support Services Contract." If you do not want the proposal, then specify that you don't want it and we'll get the contract to you sooner otherwise we'll have to write to the company and get the proposal from them. The address to write to is Department of Justice, Procurement, attention Ms. Lavitt, Suite #1000, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20530." Steven Denny 9-23-99 Department of the Treasury: "We probably don't have it. There's 11 or 12 different contracting offices, and I don't know which one has the contract. I'll look around, but it may take a while." Brett Blake 9-23-99 U.S. Park Service: "I can't help you, I have not a clue. We have several regional offices and I'd need a request number." Gary Prucioni 9-23-99 U.S. Postal Service: "Do you have a contract number? I need a contract number." Faith Walden Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of Defense: Contract issued by the Defense Supply Center, but no one at the Pentagon has heard of the Defense Supply Center. The last person I talked to, Ms. Bryant, worked in the Defense Supply Services, and had not heard of the Defense Supply Center. 8-20-99 Fort Eustice Defense General Supply Center: "What's the contract number? You don't know the contract number? Is it national stock? Steve Montgomery might be able to help you, but he's very hard to get a hold of." Ms. Evans 9-20-99 Fleet and Industrial Supply Center General Services Administration: "I can't help you if you don't have a contract number, or at least a contact person." Ms. Johnson 9-22-99 Department of Labor: "All you need to do is fill out a request under the Freedom of Information Act and we'll send it out to you. Let me give you the fax number: 219-6853." Larry Kuss 8-31-99 Department of the Army: "You need to go to the contracting officer. There's no central repository. If you had as contract number, I could tell you who that is, but without a contract, you're basically shooting in the dark." Steve Slavsky 8-31-99 Fort Monmouth: "What I would need you to do is write a written request which you could either fax or mail to me. Say that under the Freedom of Information Act, you want the contract and specify it by number. Now, there's a 15 cent per page and $25 an hour searching charge,and it should arrive within 20 days." Terry Blake 9-22-99 Government Printing Office: "Do you have the number? We have to have the number so we know what section to transfer you to." Shirley Woodruf 9-22-99 Internal Revenue Service: "Let me see what I can find out and give you a call back." Susan Staywick 9-22-99 Army Core of Engineers: "Do you have the contract number? If you get the contract number, you can call and talk to the contract officer, or you can send in a written FOIA request. Either way, you need the number." Nancy Camphouse 9-21-99 Coast Guard: "What is the contract number? You need the contract number." Ms. Lee 9-22-99 Department of Veterans Affairs: "Do you know who the contracting officer was? Do you know what the purchase order number or contract order number is? In order to find it, I'd need to know that information." Gloria Jordan 9-22-99