Unjustified sole source contracts, unwarranted exorbitant pay, failed data systems and meager planning transformed the D.C. summer jobs programs from a well-intentioned initiative to a $52 million catastrophe, investigators told a D.C. Council committee Thursday.
Both D.C. Inspector General Charles Willoughby and D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols laid out their preliminary findings with regard to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which ran over its original $14.5 million budget by about $37 million.
“I was continually assured that the Department of Employment Services had it all covered,” said at-large Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, chairwoman of the government operations committee. “We of course now know that not to be true.”
Both Willoughby and Nichols described an administration overwhelmed and unprepared. Planning, Willoughby said, appeared to be “haphazard and ad hoc.”
The new time and attendance system was untested and unreliable, they said. Sole source contracts were awarded without justification. A refusal to limit participation overwhelmed DOES staff. Job applications were never entered into the data system.
As a result, some participants weren’t paid, some were paid too much, some were underpaid and some were paid twice. Many sat around with nothing to do. Pay to contractors was “exorbitant” in some cases, Willoughby said. Debit cards were likely misappropriated.
Nichols said the budget overruns — spurred in part by Fenty’s decision to pay participants for the maximum allowable hours — likely violated the District and federal Anti-Deficiency Act.
The high-profile summer jobs debacle was the most costly of Fenty’s tenure. The mayor claimed full responsibility, ordered an internal investigation and forced the resignation of Summer Spencer, his employment services director.
“The incredible gross mismanagement that occurred threatens what we have,” said Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells.
In his testimony before the council, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini touted the program’s “positive impact” while restating the administration’s reasons for the breakdown: Contracts with host organizations were approved very late; the new attendance system was deployed at the last minute; soaring participation overwhelmed the system; and DOES leadership failed to raise alarms about the severity of problems.
“I didn’t see it,” said Tangherlini, the government’s day-to-day manager. “I made a mistake.”
