MWH Americas, the controversial firm that has managed New Orleans' 655 hurricane recovery projects since December 2007, is out at City Hall after Thursday. Its work is being taken over by city employees. The firm, based in Colorado, released a statement Wednesday thanking the city for the opportunity to run "one of the largest recovery efforts in United States...
MWH Americas, the controversial firm that has managed New Orleans' 655 hurricane recovery projects since December 2007, is out at City Hall after Thursday. Its work is being taken over by city employees.
View full sizeRestoration of the St. Roch Market is one of the rebuilding projects that former Mayor Ray Nagin hired MWH Americas Inc. to oversee after Hurricane Katrina.The firm, based in Colorado, released a statement Wednesday thanking the city for the opportunity to run "one of the largest recovery efforts in United States history."
"It was natural for us to be here to support the recovery efforts, as we have been working in New Orleans for more than 30 years," said Robert Uhler, MWH chairman and chief executive officer. "We are very proud of the accomplishments of the local MWH team and our city partners, especially the work we have completed alongside disadvantaged business enterprises that we have partnered with and, in some cases, mentored."
The contractor, hired by former Mayor Ray Nagin, was told as soon as Mayor Mitch Landrieu took over in May that the plan was to phase out MWH as recovery project manager and replace it with internal city staff. Landrieu agreed to extend the company's contract for an additional 90 days on July 1, but he cut its pay from about $1.2 million a month to about $800,000 monthly and whittled its staff to about a dozen to coordinate a transition to city control.
"In June, we extended the MWH Americas contract for 90 days while scaling back our reliance on consultants and building capacity in-house," Landrieu spokesman Ryan Berni said. "Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant feels we are in a good position to manage our projects in-house from this point forward."
MWH became a lightning rod of controversy in March when Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux released a report alleging improprieties in the initial contracting process, overbilling by MWH and a failure to properly attribute the company's management charges to various federally financed projects.
In defending his firm, Uhler blasted the Nagin administration for a slow and confusing project delivery structure that made MWH's work more difficult.
The company can collect 8 percent of all project design and construction costs under its contract, but there was confusion about how much it could collect for projects run primarily or in part by in-house staff. MWH was paid $29 million before Landrieu changed its contract terms in July, but company said at the time that it had outstanding bills for another $9 million of work.
David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3322.