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BSE Testing Program Vendors Overpaid: U.S. Vet Rassigned; $1.2 Million Spent
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 10, 2006
by Lee Bergquist
May 10--A federal veterinarian in Madison has been reassigned after federal auditors concluded that he doctored records and approved $1.2 million in overpayments to contractors as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to test for the presence of mad cow disease in the food chain.
Jim Rogers, spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, acknowledged that a veterinarian in charge of an area office had been reassigned after the audit and that the veterinarian is no longer in a position in which he handles financial matters.
Rogers said that the agency was still investigating the matter, including whether other actions could be taken against the official.
Rogers declined to identify who the official was, saying it was a personnel matter.
Linn A. Wilbur, the area veterinarian in charge of the inspection service's office in Madison, was recently reassigned to the service's eastern regional office in Raleigh, N.C., according to sources.
Wisconsin's state veterinarian, Robert Ehlenfeldt, also confirmed that inspection service officials had told the state agriculture department in Madison that Wilbur had been relieved of his duties and had been reassigned to North Carolina to work on avian influenza issues.
Ehlenfeldt said he did not know the reason for the reassignment.
When contacted by phone at his office in Raleigh, Wilbur declined to comment.
But sources said it was Wilbur who was the administrator identified in February in an inspector general's report on the U.S. Agriculture Department's detection program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, that was expanded in 2004.
The report found irregularities in the management of different aspects of the program but also found no evidence that infected meat or tissue had entered the food supply.
The enhanced inspection program, which targets the highest-risk animals, was initiated in June 2004.
Included in the 130-page report were the findings that an area office of the inspection service had paid companies that provided sampling, carcass transportation, storage and disposal of cattle at levels exceeding cost guidelines or were not eligible for reimbursement.
Without naming the office or the veterinarian in question, the report says the veterinarian in charge agreed to the terms of 10 contracts from vendors without making any changes in them.
A few months later, superiors in the agency concluded that the disposal costs for cattle and cattle remains in the contracts were not eligible for payment.
The report says the officials instructed the veterinarian to change the contracts.
But in September 2004, the veterinarian "adjusted the proposed costs with the intention of compensating the third parties for the elimination of the disposal costs," the report says.
The official shifted the costs to other eligible categories, the report says.
The veterinarian "stated he changed supporting records because he believed he should honor the prior negotiated costs," the report says.
In addition, the report says investigators found that transportation costs for hauling cattle were estimated and that the veterinarian agreed that vendors were not paid for the actual number of miles driven.
As a result, at least $1.2 million of about $11.2 million paid by the federal agency were unsupported program costs, the report says.
Five offices scrutinized
The inspector general's report notes that five inspection service offices were examined in the investigation, all of them in states with high cattle populations. They were in Madison; Topeka, Kan.; Sacramento, Calif.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Austin, Texas.
Aside from Madison, none of the other offices has had a change in supervising veterinarians in recent months, representatives of those offices told the Journal Sentinel.
The audit recommended that inspection service officials review the matter to determine whether improper payments were made and to try to recover funds.
In the agency's response, inspection service officials agreed with the recommendations.
Agency officials said they were concerned about the contracts with the vendors, including the way they were entered into and how they were managed.
But the agency said its own investigation found that because of a lack of documentation, it wasn't possible to determine the amount of improper payments that were made.
The inspection service also terminated all animal-collection agreements.
Service spokesman Rogers said the agency was trying to determine whether the money could be recovered and whether the subject of the investigation might face discipline.
"We are still working internally on what to do," Rogers said.
To date, two of more than 700,000 cattle tested nationally as part of the government's enhanced surveillance program were found to have had mad cow disease.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 10, 2006
by Lee Bergquist
May 10--A federal veterinarian in Madison has been reassigned after federal auditors concluded that he doctored records and approved $1.2 million in overpayments to contractors as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to test for the presence of mad cow disease in the food chain.
Jim Rogers, spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, acknowledged that a veterinarian in charge of an area office had been reassigned after the audit and that the veterinarian is no longer in a position in which he handles financial matters.
Rogers said that the agency was still investigating the matter, including whether other actions could be taken against the official.
Rogers declined to identify who the official was, saying it was a personnel matter.
Linn A. Wilbur, the area veterinarian in charge of the inspection service's office in Madison, was recently reassigned to the service's eastern regional office in Raleigh, N.C., according to sources.
Wisconsin's state veterinarian, Robert Ehlenfeldt, also confirmed that inspection service officials had told the state agriculture department in Madison that Wilbur had been relieved of his duties and had been reassigned to North Carolina to work on avian influenza issues.
Ehlenfeldt said he did not know the reason for the reassignment.
When contacted by phone at his office in Raleigh, Wilbur declined to comment.
But sources said it was Wilbur who was the administrator identified in February in an inspector general's report on the U.S. Agriculture Department's detection program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, that was expanded in 2004.
The report found irregularities in the management of different aspects of the program but also found no evidence that infected meat or tissue had entered the food supply.
The enhanced inspection program, which targets the highest-risk animals, was initiated in June 2004.
Included in the 130-page report were the findings that an area office of the inspection service had paid companies that provided sampling, carcass transportation, storage and disposal of cattle at levels exceeding cost guidelines or were not eligible for reimbursement.
Without naming the office or the veterinarian in question, the report says the veterinarian in charge agreed to the terms of 10 contracts from vendors without making any changes in them.
A few months later, superiors in the agency concluded that the disposal costs for cattle and cattle remains in the contracts were not eligible for payment.
The report says the officials instructed the veterinarian to change the contracts.
But in September 2004, the veterinarian "adjusted the proposed costs with the intention of compensating the third parties for the elimination of the disposal costs," the report says.
The official shifted the costs to other eligible categories, the report says.
The veterinarian "stated he changed supporting records because he believed he should honor the prior negotiated costs," the report says.
In addition, the report says investigators found that transportation costs for hauling cattle were estimated and that the veterinarian agreed that vendors were not paid for the actual number of miles driven.
As a result, at least $1.2 million of about $11.2 million paid by the federal agency were unsupported program costs, the report says.
Five offices scrutinized
The inspector general's report notes that five inspection service offices were examined in the investigation, all of them in states with high cattle populations. They were in Madison; Topeka, Kan.; Sacramento, Calif.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Austin, Texas.
Aside from Madison, none of the other offices has had a change in supervising veterinarians in recent months, representatives of those offices told the Journal Sentinel.
The audit recommended that inspection service officials review the matter to determine whether improper payments were made and to try to recover funds.
In the agency's response, inspection service officials agreed with the recommendations.
Agency officials said they were concerned about the contracts with the vendors, including the way they were entered into and how they were managed.
But the agency said its own investigation found that because of a lack of documentation, it wasn't possible to determine the amount of improper payments that were made.
The inspection service also terminated all animal-collection agreements.
Service spokesman Rogers said the agency was trying to determine whether the money could be recovered and whether the subject of the investigation might face discipline.
"We are still working internally on what to do," Rogers said.
To date, two of more than 700,000 cattle tested nationally as part of the government's enhanced surveillance program were found to have had mad cow disease.