A warehouse maintained by contractors for the Environmental Protection
Agency contained secret rooms full of exercise equipment, televisions
and couches, according to an internal audit.
EPA’s inspector general
found
contractors used partitions, screens and piled up boxes to hide the
rooms from security cameras in the 70,000 square-foot building located
in Landover, Md. The warehouse -- used for inventory storage -- is owned
by the General Services Administration and leased to the EPA for about
$750,000 per year.
The EPA has issued a stop work order to Apex Logistics LLC, the
responsible contractor, ensuring the company’s workers no longer have
access to the site -- EPA security officials escorted contractor
personnel off the premises on May 17 -- and ending all payments on the
contract.
Since awarding the contract in May 2007, EPA has paid Apex Logistics
about $5.3 million, most of which went to labor costs. Conditions at the
facility “raise questions about time charges made by warehouse
employees under the contract,” the report said.
“The warehouse contained multiple unauthorized and hidden personal
spaces created by and for the workers that included televisions,
refrigerators, radios, microwaves, chairs and couches,” the IG report
said. “These spaces contained personal items, including photos, pin ups,
calendars, clothing, books, magazines and videos.”
The agency has completed an inventory of the warehouse’s contents and
segregated all surplus furniture. EPA has committed to conducting an
agency-wide review of all warehouse and storage facility operations.
In addition to the secret rooms, the IG found an incomplete and
inaccurate recordkeeping system; numerous potential security and safety
hazards, including an open box of passports; and “deplorable conditions”
-- such as corrosion, vermin feces and “pervasive” mold.
EPA acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe said in a letter to the
inspector general the agency has taken “immediate, aggressive actions”
in response to the findings.
“The EPA is committed to addressing the previous conditions at the
warehouse and implementing institutional protections to ensure those
conditions do not recur at this facility or any other used by the
agency,” Perciasepe wrote.
(
Image via B Calkins/Shutterstock.com)
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