More records behind no-bid contract sought by House committee

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is continuing to scrutinize the origins of a $39 million no-bid contract the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate gave two companies to build an electricity grid in New York City.

In a Feb. 29 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., asked Marcia Graves, a Science and Technology Directorate contract officer who signed off on awarding the deal without competition, to brief committee investigators on procedures used to justify the decision.

Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, which provides funding for research and development of homeland security-related technology, gave Consolidated Edison of New York and Westborough, Mass.-based American Superconductor a contract in May to use superconductor cables to build an electric grid in New York City that could survive power surges that cause blackouts. The department is paying up to $25 million of the project's cost.

Though backers of the deal have said American Superconductor has proprietary technology that gives it unique qualifications for the job, the committee began in June to investigate why the deal was not competitively bid.

Dingell and Stupak noted in their letter that the department has provided two documents that "attempt to address" requirements under which the contract could be awarded without bids. But the letter said the documents raise a number of concerns.

"Neither document fully articulates the efforts DHS may have made in determining if there were other sources available for the project," the lawmakers wrote. The documents do not say if market research was conducted to determine if American Superconductor was the only possible provider of the cables used in the project, they added.

Additionally, "in its apparent haste to move the project forward, [department] procurement officials do not appear to have and/or received any interest in the project from other providers as may be mandated by [Federal Acquisition Regulation] requirements," their letter said.

They requested additional documents from the department, due Friday.

The letter is the latest in a series sent by the committee since June seeking information on the contract and others awarded to American Superconductor under Jay Cohen, the department's undersecretary for science and technology. The committee has sought information on the company's Navy contracts, which were awarded when Cohen was the Navy's chief of research.

Although Dingell and Stupak have not accused Cohen of wrongdoing, they have requested Cohen's financial disclosure forms since 1990 and asked American Superconductor for any records of "communications, contacts, gifts or remuneration made to ... Cohen."

A Homeland Security spokeswoman said Monday she had no comment on the latest letter. She has declined earlier requests for comment about Cohen, but has said the department is cooperating with the committee.