The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants Treasury to explain why it awarded Bank of America an exclusive and lengthy contract to provide services to the prison system without a competitive bidding process.
A report from the Center for Public Integrity found the bank has been paid more than $76 million since 2000 to provide services to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that include phone technology and money transfers.
The contract was arranged by the Treasury Department.
“Any time the government avoids competitive bidding, the practice needs exploration,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the panel’s ranking member, said. “Transparency will shed light on whether this arrangement is the best deal the government can get.”
Grassley sent a letter Monday to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew demanding information about the contract. In the letter, Grassley notes an inspector general report released last year found costs on the rise at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and that the increase is threatening the Department of Justice’s “ability to fulfill its mission in other areas.”
The Bank of America contract was amended 22 times, Grassley said, but was not sent through the government’s procurement and contracting system that helps eliminate waste and works to keep costs low.
“The Treasury Department’s decision to repeatedly amend, rather than competitively bid this arrangement raises significant questions,” Grassley wrote to Lew.
Grassley instructed Lew to provide by Oct. 17 records of all payments made by Treasury to Bank of America, all of the amendments to the original contract with the bank, the financial safeguards put in place for the contract and a staff briefing with Treasury officials about the arrangement.
