EPA’s fondness for high-end furniture costs taxpayers $92 million

The Washington Times ^ | September 24, 2015 | Kellan Howell

[jazusamo]

The federal agency that has the job of protecting the environment doesn’t seem to have too much concern for trees, at least the ones cut down to make furniture.

The Environmental Protection Agency over the past decade has spent a whopping $92.4 million to purchase, rent, install and store office furniture ranging from fancy hickory chairs and a hexagonal wooden table, worth thousands of dollars each, to a simple drawer to store pencils that cost $813.57.

The furniture shopping sprees equaled about $6,000 for every one of the agency’s 15,492 employees, according to federal spending data made public by the government watchdog OpenTheBooks.com.

And the EPA doesn’t buy just any old office furniture. Most of the agency’s contracts are with Michigan-based retailer Herman Miller Inc. According to the contracts, the EPA spent $48.4 million on furnishings from the retailer known for its high-end, modern furniture designs.

Just one of Herman Miller’s “Aeron” office chairs retails for nearly $730 on the store’s website. The EPA has spent tens of thousands of dollars to purchase and install those types of chairs in its offices.

The agency also paid another high-end retailer, Knoll Inc., nearly $5 million for furnishings. Knoll is known for its specialized modern furnishings, and 40 of its designs are on permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

[ptsal]

...bingo... way over-paid and too much latitude to do and/or enforce whatever they want.

[mikey_hates_everything]

We used to get our office clocks from the lighthouse for the blind.

[Squantos]

I remember as well that native americans, many different tribes, made the US Government ink pens. Great product.... so tough you could repair the trigger group on a M60 machine gun by cannibalizing the pen parts.....