Finally some legislative sense.
Tom abused this Energy Grant program, by what appears to be, rewarding a pal with 1/3 of the $1.6 million dollar grant.
Well someone is looking at pulling the plug on this boondoggle. The only people this program apperently helped were the friends of Tom who he allowed to skim 1/3 of the grant off the top.
Souldn't that be criminal? Quote:
http://indianaeconomicdigest.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=65&ArticleID=73568Indiana House pulls the plug on state's energy efficiency program
Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS | The Republican-controlled House voted 69-26 Wednesday to terminate Energizing Indiana, the statewide energy savings program that conducts home energy audits, provides new light bulbs and runs other energy efficiency programs.
Senate Bill 340, which now must be re-approved by the Senate, requires the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to wind down the program by the end of the year, rather than forcing electric customers to pay $1.2 billion to keep it going another five years.
"The low-hanging fruit for this program is gone," said state Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, the sponsor. "This will be a very, very expensive program going forward.
But state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said without energy efficiency efforts, ratepayers instead will get stuck with the cost of building new power plants, such as the $3.2 billion Duke Energy facility at Edwardsport.
The measure authorizes the state's electric utilities to establish independent energy efficiency programs.Indiana House pulls the plug on state's energy efficiency program
Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS | The Republican-controlled House voted 69-26 Wednesday to terminate Energizing Indiana, the statewide energy savings program that conducts home energy audits, provides new light bulbs and runs other energy efficiency programs.
Senate Bill 340, which now must be re-approved by the Senate, requires the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to wind down the program by the end of the year, rather than forcing electric customers to pay $1.2 billion to keep it going another five years.
"The low-hanging fruit for this program is gone," said state Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, the sponsor. "This will be a very, very expensive program going forward.
But state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said without energy efficiency efforts, ratepayers instead will get stuck with the cost of building new power plants, such as the $3.2 billion Duke Energy facility at Edwardsport.
The measure authorizes the state's electric utilities to establish independent energy efficiency programs.
Quote:
FINDING 2010-5 - PROCUREMENT
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Energy
Federal Program: ARRA Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG)
CFDA Number: 81.128
Award Number: SC0001386
The City submitted their overall goals and objectives for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Block Grant Program (EECBG) to the U.S. Department of Energy which included the breakdown of
activities and the budgeted amounts for these activities. The planned activities included: EECBG
strategy development, administration/program delivery, marketing/outreach, light bulb giveaway, and the
remaining portion was housing, commercial, and large business audits and retrofits.
The City submitted a Request For Proposal (RFP) for consulting services for the administration of the EECBG program which were due to the City by January 22, 2010. The services included in the RFP
were: marketing, evaluation of selected buildings, oversight of contractor selection and the construction
work, maintenance of records, assistance with reporting requirements, and facilitation of public presentations.
The City received four proposals for consulting services for $364,000, $133,500, $72,600 and
$88,000. The proposal for $88,000 also included an amount for construction services for another
$640,000 for a total proposal of $728,000. (now what ever happened to taking the lowest bid?)
The City, without supporting documentation to document the reasoning, chose the vendor that proposed both the consulting and construction portion of the project even though the RFP did not provide general plans or specifications for the construction portion of the project. The awarded contract totaled $530,000 even though the total proposal amount submitted was $728,000 for both the consulting and construction portion.
The City did not prepare general plans and specifications for the public work, publish notice in
accordance with Indiana Code 5-3-1 calling for sealed proposals for the public work needed, or allow for
the submission of bids separately for the construction portion of the project; therefore bypassing the City's
procurement policy. The City's procurement policy is to follow Indiana Code.
Since the construction services were not let in accordance with Indiana Code, $323,865 of 2010
grant disbursements made to the construction company are considered questioned costs.
Failure to properly procure public works projects in accordance with state and federal guidelines
could result in the contract for public work being voided and the City losing future federal awards .
We recommended the City establish control procedures to ensure that all contracts awarded,
whether consulting services or construction, are awarded in accordance with state and federal guidelines.