Waste of the Day: Millions Spent on Shoddy Security At Statue of Liberty
Topline: The Statue of Liberty is supposed to be a symbol of democracy and freedom, but a new inspector general report claims that millions of dollars of taxpayer money are being wasted at the base of the monument.
The National Park Service wrote a $43.9 million contract for security at the Statue of Liberty, but poor oversight led to an “increased risk to public safety and to the safety of the site itself,” according to the report.
Key facts: Universal Protection Services provides 110 unarmed guards for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but auditors say many of them are violating their contract.
On-site auditors separately noticed two security guards watching sports games on their cell phones when they were supposed to be screening visitors to the Statue of Liberty for firearms and explosives.
The security contract prohibits guards from using cell phones, but there was no evidence anyone had ever been disciplined for doing so.
Some employees also failed to return their Department of the Interior ID cards after leaving the security company; 17 of them could not be found. The ID cards are “sensitive assets” and the contract requires them to be returned.
Universal Protection Services’ contract also requires them to use an electronic timekeeping system, but the system was never installed. Instead, employees punched in and out by signing their name with a pen.
The inspector general found that some timesheets were lost or had errors. In a random sample, 42% of the timesheets were not approved correctly — representing almost $938,000 in salary payments that auditors say may have been inaccurate.
Another employee invoiced the government for $32,000 of work but never filled out their timesheet.
The security company also could not show records that its employees had been drug tested or completed required training, even though auditors gave two months’ notice that they would inspect those files.
The contract is paid on a yearly basis, so only $5.6 million had actually been spent as of September 2022.
Summary: Until Universal Protection Services makes substantive changes, all $43.9 million is likely to be spent ineffectively. The company is not guaranteed to stay on for their full four-year contract with the National Park Service, and perhaps they shouldn’t.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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