New report shows Dulles board's problems even worse

Liz Essley
The Washington Examiner
 
A federal investigation into the authority overseeing the $6 billion Dulles Rail project, set for release next week, will show that nepotism at the agency is far more widespread than previously believed and that authority employees may have benefited personally from some of the contracts they awarded, The Washington Examiner has learned.

The final report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general will detail contracts that Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority staff steered toward certain companies and that later may have benefited authority employees, according to sources familiar with the inspector general's investigation.

The FBI also is investigating potential criminal activity in the agency's contracting practices, sources said. Officials of the authority confirmed late Wednesday that they had been subpoenaed by the FBI.

The Inspector General's Office said in an interim report released in May that the authority -- which oversees Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports and the $6 billion construction of Metro's Silver Line to Dulles -- awarded more than $220 million worth of contracts with limited competition.

Sources say this month's final report will offer fresh revelations about that contracting process and employees who participated in it.
 
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