Maria Garzino’s Multiple Disclosures Detail Unsafe Pumps in New Orleans; GAP Client Battled DoDIG and Army Corps for Years

(Washington, D.C.) – Government Accountability Project (GAP) client Maria Garzino, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) mechanical and civil engineer, will be awarded the 2009 Public Servant Award of the Year by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on Wednesday, December 16. Garzino is credited with revealing the inadequate state of New Orleans floodwater pumps built by the USACE after Hurricane Katrina. The disclosures, which both the Department of Defense Inspector General’s (DoDIG) office and USACE fought for years, showcase how New Orleans residents are still in great danger if flooding occurs again. The award will be presented to Garzino this Wednesday at the OSC San Francisco Bay Area Field Office (in Oakland), at 1301 Clay St., Suite 1220N.

“Both Ms. Garzino and the OSC should be applauded for their indefatigable efforts in this case,” stated GAP Homeland Security Director Jesselyn Radack, counsel for Garzino. “This is a perfect example of how one brave individual can make a difference to further disaster and homeland security accountability.”

The Public Servant Award is the highest honor bestowed by the OSC. Garzino’s courage and persistence over the past three years should be rewarded – many would not go to the painstaking lengths she did to alert citizens to a huge vulnerability in public safety.

GAP thanks Maria for her courageous action, and hopes that this recognition will pave the way for future federal employees to blow the whistle on wrongdoing.

Background

Garzino served as the Pump Team Installation Leader for a project that installed new hydraulic pumps in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The pumps were designed to move floodwater away from the city to the lake side of the floodgates in case of an emergency.

Garzino blew the whistle on several problems that rendered the pumps ineffective, despite the fact that USACE officers had estimated their lifespan at 50 years. After taking her concerns to the Army Corps in August 2006 and being turned away, Garzino made a whistleblower disclosure in August 2007 to the OSC – the federal agency charged with investigating whistleblower disclosures and defending such employees. The OSC ordered the DoDIG to investigate the claims.

The DoDIG investigation substantiated more than half of Garzino’s claims, but ultimately concluded that the deficiencies were “…performance related short-comings that did not rise to the level of a serious violation…”

Garzino submitted comments strenuously disputing the Inspector General’s report and, after examining both, the OSC concluded that:

After reviewing the agency report, one finds that the agency’s findings and conclusions are hollow and incomplete, despite compelling evidence that would lead one to conclude that USACE employees are responsible for wrongdoing. The agency report appears to avoid holding people accountable for documented deficiencies in how USACE managed the design, installation, and oversight of the pump units in New Orleans, all at a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety to the people of New Orleans.

The OSC further found that “The government and the public cannot reasonably trust that the flood control system in place in New Orleans possesses reliability and integrity.”

The OSC then concluded that:

…apparent defects in the agency’s report lead me to question the impartiality of the investigation into Ms. Garzino’s allegations and conclude that many of the agency’s findings are inconsistent with available evidence…I am particularly concerned about the public safety risk created by the assumption that the pumps will adequately operate during a hurricane….I must concur with Ms. Garzino’s recommendation that an investigation be conducted by independent professional engineers.

A few weeks later, the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG) announced it was re-examining the case. After months of investigation, the DoDIG found the pumps to be safe, relying on an independent assessment performed by a defense contractor with long-standing ties to the USACE.

In an unprecedented move, the OSC then reopened the case and hired its own independent engineering expert to review and analyze the information available, provide overall analysis of the hydraulic pumping system, and then come to a determination.

Upon conclusion of the review and analysis of the above-cited material, the independent engineering expert submitted his independent technical opinion in a report detailing his findings, and concluded, in June 2009: “Based on a review of the documents and communications with the whistleblower, Apariq believes the allegations of the whistleblower have significant merit and should be seriously considered by OSC.”

The OSC, relying on the independent engineering technical opinion, completely rejected the DoDIG argument and completely validated Garzino’s allegations about the effectiveness of the pumps.

The report found that the pumps installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina do not protect the city adequately and that the Army Corps of Engineers could have saved $430 million in replacement costs by buying proven equipment.