We received a call from Senator Bob Corker’s office, in Washington DC, today which was rather refreshing. Initially, the interest was somewhat tepid; however, when we expounded upon the fact that our Industry was both unregulated and uncooperative he became quite interested. As I don’t want to get this guy in a sling and we ALL know how the Prime Vendors respond when they think they may have to obey the law, I am simply going to go over the conversation and discuss that which seems to be shaping up.
The biggest issue that the gentleman had, and make no mistake he was fairly well versed about the Industry, was the simple fact that there is no way for Contractors to submit Grievances to anyone to be addressed. Now, the Nationals are going to state that you can submit them to the Vendor Manager and they will look at them. This is much like allowing a murder to review the evidence, pre trial, and cast out that which s/he does not want admitted.
Senator Corker’s office is going to begin by reaching out to their contacts within the Beltway to examine what options are available. First and foremost, we are grateful for this. It is an indication, though, of truly how broken this Industry is. When HUD, the VA and the Prime Vendors themselves are not able to ensure that Contractors are paid it is time for a complete and total overhaul. He identified with this and seemed to be wanting to concentrate on the fact that there was no other option for Contractors to file complaints. He also keyed to the fact that absolutely no statistics are being kept.
Additionally, they are going to go over all the information from Contractors which we send them. I am hopeful that this, in turn, will generate a complete investigation of the Industry. If you are owed money stay tuned in the Industry Insider Section as we will have updates here.
