Hendrickson’s issues about Loyal Supply included what he described as 40 % staffing deficits, workers working with out correct clearances and licenses, and billing errors leading to overpayments of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, amongst different points, in accordance with his attorneys.
“Mr. Hendrickson is now blowing the whistle to Congress with the hope that his proof will immediate pressing investigation into the gross mismanagement, waste of taxpayer funds, and indefensible failures within the provision and oversight of mandated medical companies to noncitizens in CBP custody,” Andrea Meza, an lawyer with the nonpartisan Authorities Accountability Mission, mentioned in a press release to The Washington Put up.
The group, which defends federal whistleblowers, despatched the 20-page letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Home Homeland Safety Committee. The letter gives a timeline of Hendrickson’s makes an attempt to attract consideration to what he considered as pressing issues with Loyal Supply’s efficiency.
Hendrickson’s attorneys informed lawmakers that their consumer had tried since January 2022 to get CBP to problem Loyal Supply a warning discover looking for instant enhancements in areas resembling record-keeping and pressing care practices, however his efforts had been repeatedly thwarted by his supervisors within the contracting workplace.
The letter urges lawmakers from each events to conduct oversight of Loyal Supply and the CBP contracting workplace, and to take steps to strengthen protections for different CBP or Loyal Supply whistleblowers who danger shedding their jobs by coming ahead.
CBP contracting officers have chosen Loyal Supply as a finalist for one of many largest contracts within the company’s historical past. The repeatedly delayed contract choice course of and an ongoing investigation into the kid’s demise have exacerbated long-festering strains between CBP medical officers and the CBP contracting workplace that oversees Loyal Supply, in accordance with Hendrickson’s timeline and different CBP officers who spoke on the situation of anonymity to explain the tensions.
The Florida-based firm gives care and medical screening for the hundreds of migrants taken into CBP custody every day alongside the U.S.-Mexico border, the place many individuals, together with kids, arrive sick or injured from their journeys. The corporate staffs U.S. border amenities below a $25 million-per-month contract extension as a result of CBP has been unable to finalize a brand new deal.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ailing.) mentioned in a press release Thursday that Hendrickson’s allegations raised critical issues and pledged to research.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee, mentioned he was “deeply alarmed” by the letter and would press CBP to answer the whistleblower claims.
“We should shield the well being and security of all people in U.S. custody, together with by guaranteeing they’ve entry to high quality well being companies when wanted,” Peters mentioned in a press release.
Hendrickson, a veteran contracting official, was assigned to work with CBP’s Workplace of the Chief Medical Officer (OCMO) quickly after it was created in 2020 following the demise of a number of kids in U.S. Border Patrol custody, in accordance with the letter. When Hendrickson started reporting issues with Loyal Supply’s efficiency, with the backing of CBP’s senior medical officers, he clashed along with his supervisors within the CBP contracting workplace who defended Loyal Supply, the letter states.
“Tragically, a 12 months after Mr. Hendrickson was faraway from the [contract office] place, on Might 17, 2023, 8-year-old Anadith Reyes Alvarez died whereas detained in a CBP facility after her mom’s repeated pleas for medical care to Loyal Supply employees,” the attorneys wrote. “Had Mr. Hendrickson’s and his OCMO colleagues’ issues about Loyal Supply been addressed in 2021 or 2022, Anadith would possibly nonetheless be alive.”
Hendrickson’s attorneys denounced what they described as particular “areas of wrongdoing” witnessed by their consumer through the previous three years, together with “surprising deficiencies” in oversight of Loyal Supply and the corporate’s provision of medical care, a failure by CBP contract officers to heed the warnings and issues of CBP medical officers, and “illegal retaliation” towards Hendrickson.
Erin Waters, a spokesperson for CBP, mentioned in a press release the company “takes its obligations to research whistleblower allegations severely.”
“CBP stays dedicated to making sure that contract oversight – and the procurement course of writ giant – are carried out accurately and with the utmost integrity and professionalism,” Waters mentioned. “CBP is devoted to the continued evaluate and analysis of our practices to make sure that all people in our custody obtain one of the best care potential.”
Loyal Supply and the corporate’s CEO, Brian Moore, didn’t reply to a request for remark. Moore has declined to talk publicly about his firm’s efficiency and the kid’s demise, referring inquiries to CBP.
The CBP medical contract has been a supply of frustration amongst senior officers on the company for at the least a 12 months. CBP tried to rent a competitor of Loyal Supply in September 2022, however Loyal Supply and others filed administrative protests alleging unfair therapy, triggering repeat delays. Loyal Supply’s most up-to-date protest, filed Nov. 3, is awaiting a ruling by the Authorities Accountability Workplace, the federal entity that adjudicates contract procurement disputes.
The delays have left CBP in a bind, because the company continues to depend on Loyal Supply even because the CBP investigators have discovered vital issues with the corporate’s staffing ranges, monetary administration, medical report retaining and affected person security.
Loyal Supply’s contracting protests have rankled senior CBP officers who’re keen to rent a distinct firm but additionally say there isn’t a different medical-services agency giant sufficient to shortly change Loyal Supply at a time when migration is at report ranges and the federal government can’t afford interruptions in care.
On Aug. 10, CBP issued a warning to Loyal Supply, often called a remedy discover, demanding instant fixes to the corporate’s record-keeping and reporting practices, its urgent-care protocols and different firm practices.
It wasn’t till Anadith died that the company took motion, in accordance with the letter. The CBP investigators probing her demise decided Loyal Supply employees mishandled medical data displaying the kid had a coronary heart situation and sickle cell anemia, failed to hunt assist from a doctor and disregarded her mom’s pleas for pressing care.
CBP responded to the demise by reassigning its chief medical official and putting the workplace below the supervision of Alexander Eastman, a senior medical official on the Division of Homeland Safety.
Hendrickson’s attorneys informed lawmakers that officers within the contracting workplace have been tender on Loyal Supply regardless of pink flags.
The corporate repeatedly staffed border amenities with lower-paid medical aides or paramedics, as a substitute of docs and nurses, and Hendrickson’s attorneys mentioned he organized an emergency assembly at CBP in January 2022 to alert contracting officers that the corporate was operating whole shifts at CBP amenities “the place no supplier is offered in any respect.”
When Loyal Supply informed CBP it was having issues with employees retention and requested the company for extra money, Hendrickson started investigating the corporate’s pay scales, in accordance with the letter. “By means of his analysis he discovered that Loyal Supply was paying workers below market fee, however Loyal Supply’s overhead and revenue margins had been disproportionately excessive,” it mentioned.
Two present Loyal Supply workers interviewed by The Put up have additionally cited low pay and an absence of bonuses for distant postings as the principle supply of the corporate’s staffing shortages.
A few of Hendrickson’s claims are associated to alleged monetary mismanagement and waste. Within the spring of 2022, the corporate sought $1.6 million in further funds from CBP, saying it had made bill errors and accounting errors, in accordance with the letter.
Hendrickson steered on the time that CBP attempt to negotiate a decreased fee.
“He thought it was gross waste to pay a contractor further funds when their bills had been already excessive and so they had been very clearly failing to satisfy the required contract phrases,” the letter states. CBP finally paid the corporate the total quantity, however in accordance with Hendrickson’s letter CBP investigators have opened a fraud inquiry into Loyal Supply’s billing discrepancies.
After the invoicing dispute, Hendrickson clashed once more along with his supervisors in spring 2022 when he rated Loyal Supply’s efficiency negatively utilizing the federal government’s established grading system for contractors.
Hendrickson’s letter says he was backed by CBP medical officers, however the contracting workplace eliminated him from his place and altered the corporate’s analysis to “distinctive” and “excellent.” Hendrickson informed CBP’s inner affairs division he thought the destructive analysis was being modified to permit Loyal Supply to bid for the brand new medical contract, in accordance with the letter.
Three months later, CBP medical officers tried to assign Hendrickson to assist oversee the choice course of for the brand new contract, however the contracting workplace blocked his appointment, in accordance with the letter.
Extra not too long ago, as CBP ready to pick finalists for the $1.5 billion contract, the contracting workplace picked Loyal Supply, overruling the suggestions of a CBP advisory board that didn’t imagine the corporate ought to qualify, in accordance with three CBP officers who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate procurement course of.