Congressional Report Deems IPSIG “Best Practice”
Congressional House Committee Examines IPSIG
A Subcommittee of the Congressional House Committee on Homeland Security issued a report on the subject of “An Examination of Federal 9/11 Assistance to New York: Lessons Learned in Preventing Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and Lax Management.” Following Congressional Hearings in July, the Subcommittee has released a glowing report on their findings and conclusions about the role of IPSIGs (Independent Private Sector Inspectors General) in preventing and detecting fraud, waste and abuse in the post-9/11 World Trade Center disaster clean-up (see attached excerpt).
The report identifies IPSIGs as a “Best Practice,” concluding that: “High-ranking officials in the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General said debris-removal work has always posed oversight problems for FEMA, but the removal of debris from Ground Zero was among the agency’s best projects. In the Subcommittee’s judgment, that success resulted from the presence of private integrity monitors and occurred in spite of very challenging conditions.” That praise stood in stark contrast to the scathing findings and conclusions about other parts of the governmental response plan disassociated from the IPSIG monitors. Most significantly, a discussion draft of proposed legislation coming out of the hearings allows for the use of private integrity monitors for future federal contracts responding to a major disaster, acts of terrorism, or other emergency, and commissions a further study and report to Congress on the effectiveness of IPSIGs at Ground Zero (indirectly serving as a commentary on the post-Katrina experience).