May 05 2009
Don’t Witch Hunt Average Americans!
Update: No, I am not impressed by the far right blogs going over the deep end, see here for why I see this more as the liberal media yanking their chain and them reacting like Pavlov’s Dog, wasting their time and credibility. - end update
I can see the right wing drama queens getting all aquiver over a ridiculous Washington Post story about the reprehensible congressman Jack Murtha (D-PA) and his average american nephew Robert Murtha Jr with his tiny government contracting company. The insinuation full, evidence free hit job tries to make it out that nephew Rob is unfairly or illegally getting government work from mad uncle Jack (seems to be mad aunt and uncle week):
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech’s most striking feature is its owner — Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department’s spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech’s 17 employees “provide necessary logistical support” to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, “and that’s about as far as I feel comfortable going.” Giving more details could provide important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.
Here we go again, attacking those working to protect us. If this is a get rich scheme it is a joke. $4 million dollars covering 17 employees is nothing (doesn’t even factor in subcontractor purchases, etc). If you assume 30% is going out the door for materials, rent, etc that leaves $2.8 million for the 17 employees. If you divide the 2.8 by 17 workers you get an average billable rate to the government for a year of $164,705. That is pretty damn low for the DC area. Clearly Murtech is not soaking the government.
To boil it down further that means (assuming 1800 billable hours per person per year) the average billable rate is $91 an hour. From witch must come health insurance, state and federal income tax, FICA taxes and vacation and sick leave coverage. If I recalculate the whole thing without and subcontractor costs (the 30% I took off the top) then get a billable rate of $130/hr.
There is no skimming or anything possible at these billable rates ($91-130/hr). These people are doing important and classified work. They do not deserve their reputations smeared or ruined by rampant innuendo and unfounded suspicion. If the Washington Post had just done some simple math, they would realize this is not a case of someone lining their pockets with millions of dollars a year. I realize Murtek has more income sources, but nothing in the story proves anything illegal is happening, it is all based on conjecture and spin.
28 Responses to “Don’t Witch Hunt Average Americans!”
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[...] over at Strata-Sphere is calling this a witch hunt, but my point still stands. We need to look at the culture of control in Washington, along with the [...]
[...] The Strata-Sphere The insinuation full, evidence free hit job tries to make it out that nephew Rob is unfairly or illegally getting government work from mad uncle Jack [...]
I find it interesting that the last name is Murtha and not any other. Given Mad Jack’s reputation for corruption I am a little more skeptical than you. But I will wait and see as more information surfaces as to how this contract was granted.
[...] entirely possible that the entire thing is on the level, we’re talking about King Pork Murtha, here. It doesn’t add [...]
Even if its just a couple of words you have to take a cheap shot at Conservatives, eh AJ?
Why would anyone raise an eyebrow to a contract awarded to the nephew of the Earmark King?
Are we to now assume the Washington Post is a Conservative newspaper??
Is it not at least interesting?? If its public money cannot questions be asked?? How is this attacking the people who defend us? It is a question about appropriations NOT a hit job on our defenders.
mikedido58,
LOL! Well, when the drama queens go off as I predicted (I did not check the blogs before writing the post – did not have to) is it I am being too harsh or they are being sadly predictable?
I am a government contractor. I understand how Murtek could get a small no-bid contract because they were available to do the job when there was no time to do a competitive bid process (a year at least) and there would be no financial benefit to the government.
Sorry, but the conservative bloggers know as much about this as they do about brain surgery. Their hyper ventilating was not hard to predict, neither were their illogical leaps to silly conclusions.
It is not in the least interesting. It is another idiotic diversion from the real issues with Obama’s policies which are serious and numerous. This is a bunch of armchair experts reacting to a poorly worded and leading article.
It’s like the WaPo said “hey, watch us make the far right jump and scream” and they put out the article. Laughing at how the rabid dogs reacted on command, and completely wasting their time.
Yeah – I am really impressed.
Maybe your right, AJ. Although it cannot be overlookwd that Murtha’s PAC and lobbyist ties are being investigated and he may be the next target. It would not be a huge leap of faith to believe there could be corruption there. Washinghton Post a Conservative Puppet Master? That too is in the realm of possibility. Your explaination of the bid/procurement process makes sense.
Any time a Congress critter awards non-competitive contracts to a relative, the appearance of nepotism is there. If that money had been a competitive bid, I would have less of a problem. And most of the problems I have with Murtha’s local defense contractors is that they apparently haven’t been doing “important” work in many cases. It appears that they have a problem showing what work they did at all or having produced “work” that was never requested.
In this case I wouldn’t go off on a tangent in either direction until more is known.
If all of this was done above board with full disclosure to the appropriations committee AND Murtha excused himself from all proceedings then it might at least have the appearance of independence.
But when it comes to suckling at the teet of government isn’t everyone a niece or nephew or at least a half brother to some congressman? After all they can’t keep all the pie to themselves, they have to share a little to wet the beak of their “constituents”. Especially the California husbands who prop their nitwit wives into positions in government. Now that is some real money.
Crosspatch is right. An ordinary Civil Servant would get hammered over the appearance of impropriety. Elected officials should be held to the same standard.
CP and KauaiBoy,
I see you have zero experience in government contracting. First off, this level of contract is not reviewed or initiated by Congress. They fund the program, the program lets numerous contracts to get the job done with the funds.
This is ALL in the hands of the local government contracting officer who has no contact with Congress. They determine the rules of the contract (bid, sole source, etc).
Folks, you’re demonstrating a depth of ignorance that totally destroys any points you are trying to make.
I noticed this little gem poking around.
“Dollar Amount of Defense Contracts Awarded to this Contractor from 2000 to 2008 $3,554,482.”
With just one contractual transaction they have made more than the previous 4 years, Murtech (started in 2004) of governmental contracts.
What does all this mean? I think AJ is correct in this as a $4 million contract in the scheme of things isn’t that big. I am sure that Robert Murtha and the local contracting officer in Glen Burnie, MD. know one another. They may even golf together at times. This is how local governments work frankly. Kinda of like making sausage as the process isn’t pretty but it is the process that works on that level.
No trucks come and go, no receptionist, very few cars in the parking lot, (is that evidence of car pooling?) no details on what they do. .
That is from the post story, Sounds clearly above board, sounds like the ‘typical’ business.
$4 million dollars covering 17 employees is nothing (doesn’t even factor in subcontractor purchases, etc). If you assume 30% is going out the door for materials, rent, etc that leaves $2.8 million for the 17 employees. If you divide the 2.8 by 17 workers you get an average billable rate to the government for a year of $164,705. the average billable rate is $91 an hour. From witch must come health insurance, state and federal income tax, FICA taxes and vacation and sick leave coverage. If I recalculate the whole thing without and subcontractor costs (the 30% I took off the top) then get a billable rate of $130/hr.
I kinda slightly, timidly question where these numbers come from. what ’subcontractor’ purchases? what subcontractor? what materials? What 17 employees? few cars in the parking lot? carpooling? Average billable rate to the government for what? Occupying empty space? They wouldn’t talk, classified work? So how do we know what a billable rate for a ‘classifed’ task is?
quite clearly there is just no evidence that this company is actually performing any service other than processing (consuming) $4 million a year of taxpayer money.
There is no skimming or anything possible at these billable rates ($91-130/hr). These people are doing important and classified work.
What? there is skimming and ‘anything’ possible at ANY rates. Anyone processing money has the possibility of ‘putting their fingers’ in the til.
“These people are doing important and classified work” Is this a wild assumption or what? You don’t have a clue as to what these people are doing, or not doing. If you do, then the ‘classifed’ word is not operable.
I’m not sure I understand the point of the whole story or post, is it just an opportunity to bash conservatives?
Using Murtha’s ‘innocence’ as an opportunity to bash conservatives doesn’t seem quite appropriate for some reason.
Redteam,
Please stop. You are no Sherlock Holmes, clearly. Think about what they do, they store and deploy sensors to detect WMDs. If you can’t figure out what that entails stop guessing and looking the fool.
I will not tell you since I (a) could care less about your ignorance and (b) will not expose information in public – even if has some accurate conjecture in it. And yes, I have much more than a clue what that work entails, which is tons more than you have.
ph2ll,
Every small business/contractor that is going to make it gets a huge windfall once (how else do they leap to the next level?). I went with a company that had 7 employees. Part way through I won a contract to build their satellite control center. The value of that one contract was around $2.5 million, was the largest award they ever had and tripled the staff (mostly under me).
No one in their right mind would risk prison over the meager margins (4-6%) you can get off these contracts.
Folks, you are really not impressive today.
AJ,
Your posts today make a valid point — those of us who don’t have a good understanding of federal contracting may be out of our league in commenting on the process — although right now my eyes are crossed from reviewing/interpreting a section of the FARs for a client,
Actually, that’s the same point I tried to make yesterday re: your lack of understanding and experience in matters of political analysis. If you expect us to defer to you on your areas of expertise, kindly show a little more respect to those of us who do know something about, and have some real-world experience in that arena.
Proverbs 26:4-5
4 Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools,
or you will become as foolish as they are.
5 Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools,
or they will become wise in their own estimation.
You are correct in that some have gone from Proverbs 26:5 into Proverbs 26:4. Reports that target (for political purposes) conservatives are not representative of those who are on the ground doing the actual job.
The problem is limited to those who lack the due diligence to write a factual report and those who would use nonfactual reports against patriots. A non foolish answer is the report is wrong and offensive – Go back and fix it. A foolish answer is that they who serve in the government are all against us – No that is not factual either and it is offensive, Go back and fix it.
GG,
I do have experience in the political arena. Man of many talents.
Good luck on the FAR – I hate that thing.
I was just going by what the Post article and you said, that what they do is classified.
I guess being classified means you can tell anyone what you do. That’s not what it used to mean.
they store and deploy sensors to detect WMDs.
and they do all that without a receptionist, with 17 employees that car pool to a vacant parking lot and no trucks that ever come and go from the loading docks.
Sounds reasonable.
AJ:
I am sorry, but any time some member of Congress, especially one with Murtha’s shady background, awards no bids contracts to family members you gotta wonder.
Just look at the crap Cheney and Bush took over Halliburton and Cheney was not even connected with the company anymore. Did that hurt Democrats to go after Cheney? No…well then, what can you expect?
And who says they are risking prison? Murtha has been getting away with this kind of thing for years. I am sure it never occurred to him or anyone else that prison could be involved.
If you look at the Murtech website, http://www.murtech.us/index.html, they provide SETA services. So it looks like they are supporting either MDA or one of the service PM shops in the logistics realm. I manage a task worth about $3.5 million for an Army PM. I fund with subs about 18 work years with that. We make a profit, so 17 people for $4 million depending on the labor mix is not excessive.
The issue is not that Murtech is making illegal profits off of its one contract but how it came to get it. It is not too difficult a stretch to imagine a contract being given to them due to their relationship to Congressman Murtha. Heck, in the Air Force, we had a PE that Senator Byrd funded directly for work in West Virginia. There was not discussion of what it was for he just did it. Earmarks are wonderful in that way.
Murtha hasn’t done anything illegal that we know off as he hasn’t been as blatant as Randy Cunningham for example, but he is certainly unethical and misusing government funds. This contract may be the same, it may not be. I think Mr. Strata is a little overwrought in this protests, but as with the PMA issue it will slowly build and maybe nothing will come of it in the end, but maybe something will.
Dagpotter, that site doesn’t really say what it does. It talks in generalities a lot and the Jobs opportunity page was especially interesting.
I’m not sure why a project management team would need warehousing, and obviously they don’t according to the WaPo which says no trucks visit their loading docks.
I think it’s safe to say their only function is to dispose of 4 million dollars of taxpayers money with zip accountability.
How convenient to say that their function is ‘classified’ so they can’t talk about it. I’m sure it’s not so much the ‘classified’ that keeps them from discussing it nearly so much as the embarrassment of trying to describe exactly what it is they do.
The web site uses all the right buzz words to sound important while not really saying anything.
I would defy anyone to read the description on that site and tell me what it is that they do..
yeah, it’s classified all right.
I’ve seen several posts on blogs that say this was a “warehousing” business. That’s why they question the “no bid contract urgency” aspect.
I don’t know. If nothing is there to implicate any criminal or ethical issues I would rather the news media not even publish an article about it. However, anytime deals are made that involves a politician’s family member, a closer look is warranted.
And, anything having to do with Murtha should be looked at closely. That guy is unethical and corrupt.
There are few words bad enough to describe John Murtha.
He literally aided and abetted the enemy with his ignorant premature bluster regarding Haditha, and he’s yet to really apologize AFAIK.
Anything and anyone related to him should automatically be suspect, IMHO.
Assuming there’s nothing improper here however, and of course it would probably be lost on him — I wonder how he feels about he and his nephew getting wrongly accused of something prematurely by people who don’t really have all the facts and are just trying to score political points. — ????
Interesting post for someone who completely overlooked this:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/05/maverick-dhs-office-issues-dictionary-domestic-extremist-groups/
You defended the rightwing extremist report as being reasonable given it’s intent. And yet Napolitano apologizes for it and admits the language was not appropriate. Then, you completely ignore the next report that comes out that proves beyond reasonable doubt that somebody has gone haywire in HSD writing these things. And then also fail to cover it’s withdrawal, and admission from HSD that they have a “maverick” dept issuing these things that they need to reign in.
Redteam,
I don’t know your background but what the website describes is pretty strait forward Scientific, Engineering, Technical and Analytical (SETA) support to a government PM shop. They say in the article that they do logistics for an entity doing missile defense tests. That is either MDA, the Navy or the Army. Logistical SETA support covers management of all of the domains of logistics — they could be managing the shipping and handling of targets or sensors or interceptors; or something more mundane then that like manuals.
As to the fact they have no jobs listed as a 17 person company they are probably cherry picking who they want to hire as the task grows.
$4 million in missile defense R&D is a drop in the bucket where one test could cost you $40 million.
The issue isn’t the contract but Murtha’s actions.