Free Republic

Judicial Watch announced today that it received 198 pages of records and communications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involving “humanized mice” research with human fetal heads, organs and tissue, including communications and contracts with human fetal tissue provider Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR). Most of the records are communications and related attachments between Perrin Larton, a procurement manager for ABR, and research veterinary medical officer Dr. Kristina Howard of the FDA. Judicial Watch received the records through a March 2019 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of which the...

A series of e-mail exchanges between officials at the Department of Health and Human Services shows growing alarm at the amount of projected profit from a government contract for a drug company whose controlling shareholder is a longtime Democratic Party activist. Ronald Perelman is controlling shareholder of Siga Technologies and a longtime Democratic Party activist and fundraiser. He's also a large contributor to Republicans, but has been a particular friend of the Obama White House. Also on Siga's board of directors is Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, who has had close relations with the Obama...

The Dept. of Health and Human Services has quietly canceled a contract to a Chicago-based advocacy group that planned to promote ObamaCare benefits to recently paroled prisoners, after GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions wrote a letter to the agency in July questioning how the contract was funded. The HHS awarded the no-bid contract to Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities in July in order to “increase insurance enrollment for… individuals involved in the criminal justice system,” but then quietly updated the solicitation’s status to “canceled” on its website, saying it would be re-issued.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the no-bid contract to build the failed Obamacare website. Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company. Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

".....In two of those cases, State Department officials said, the contract employees, who worked for Stanley Inc., a company based in Arlington, Va., that does computer work for the government, were fired. In one case, the employee was reprimanded and continues to be employed by the Analysis Corporation of McLean, Va. Mr. McCormack said Mr. McCain’s passport file was breached by the same employee who was reprimanded for breaching Mr. Obama’s file. "

Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work. Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies -- but it won't give the US economy much of a boost. The contract was given to a tiny Washington, DC, interior designer, which in turn subcontracted the crystal work to a Swedish firm -- snubbing such US companies as the famous manufacturer in Clinton's own back yard, Steuben Crystal of upstate Corning. The firm didn't even get a chance to bid on the contract, which will outfit embassies and ambassadors' residences with fancy crystal for ritzy functions. Ironically, under the no-bid contract,...

On Monday we learned the Obama administration awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to Checchi & Company, owned by Vincent V. Checchi a prominent Democratic campaign contributor. The Contract was awarded without entertaining competitive bids. Despite President Obama's long history of criticizing the Bush administration for "sweetheart deals" with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington- based firm owned...

U.S. to Contract Hong Kong Firm to Help Scan for Nuclear Materials Passing From Bahamas to U.S.WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of Americans' favorite beach destinations, the Bahamas, is getting a new U.S. arrival -- sophisticated equipment to detect radioactive materials in shipping cargo. But U.S. customs agents won't be on site to supervise the machine's use as a nuclear safeguard for the American shoreline that is just 65 miles away from Freeport. Under an unusual arrangement, a Hong Kong company will help operate the detector. The Bush administration says it is finalizing a no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. It...

BATON ROUGE -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is having second thoughts about reimbursing Louisiana for more than $25 million in payments to the consulting firm that has been advising Gov. Kathleen Blanco on hurricane recovery. A week after announcing in a news release that the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness could collect up to $26.1 million for the services provided by James Lee Witt Associates, FEMA withdrew the authorization and questioned whether the state acted properly in awarding the contract. In a Dec. 5 letter to Col. Jeff Smith, Blanco's official representative to FEMA, federal officials...

Sometimes, when I ask my neo-liberal friends questions about this administration's policies a get a short grumbling treatise on something about Halliburton, corporate corruption, a litlte more about Halliburton, and maybe no-bid contracts. These dots, I take, I am supposed to connect to reveal a sinister portrait of this man, the Vice President of the United States (and almost assuredly the President of Vice), Dick Cheney: You've probably heard of all the corruption yourself. I admit, it looks pretty bad that the former CEO of Halliburton becomes VPUS, then, a few years later, his former company gets billions in a...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - California has canceled its $95 million computer contract with Oracle Corp., state officials announced Tuesday.</p> <p>Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the Department of General Services and the Department of Finance have been trying to negotiate a way out of the deal since May. The announcement means the state is relieved of further financial obligations, including all interest and fees.</p>