Past managers at Big Bend National Park spent roughly $140,000 on HVAC units that they never installed/OIG
It gets woefully hot in West Texas during the summer months, with temperatures routinely in the mid-90s and a hot, glaring sun shining down on Big Bend National Park staff and visitors alike. Yet while park staff five years ago invested a quarter-million dollars in air-conditioning units for offices and shade shelters for campgrounds, the equipment was never installed, according to an Inspector General's investigation.
Park managers nevertheless signed off on the projects as being completed, the investigation added.
The resulting report paints a disturbing portrait of lax business practices and poor oversight at Big Bend. It also begs the question of whether park staff could have better spent the $250,000 on some of the park's backlogged maintenance, which totaled nearly $90 million in Fiscal 2018.
While the purchases of $140,117 worth of HVAC units and $115,000 for shade structures were properly made back in FYl 2013, 2014, and 2015, the units and materials were stored away and never installed, the investigation concluded.
"We asked why they were never installed if the (HVAC) units are still usable for their intended purpose, and the facilities manager told us that she was hesitant to replace units while the old ones still worked, further calling into question the need for the purchases," the investigators noted.
Park staff reported that the HVAC equipment had been used when in fact some of it was stored outside and some in warehouse space.
"Final comments on individual projects included statements such as, 'work completed-new units!!!' and 'new energy efficient units!!!' The former superintendent certified these projects as complete in the (Project Management Information System), but there is no indication of any oversight or review of their actual completeness other than the former park superintendent’s digital signature, the report issued Wednesday stated.
The materials for the shade shelters, meanwhile, sat unused because park staff needed outside help to install them, "and that other aspects of the campground rehabilitation, such as filling and grading for erosion control, exhausted funds that otherwise could have been used to construct the shelters," the investigators were told.
Park records nevertheless indicated that the shelters had been installed during FY 2018.
"The former superintendent digitally signed off on the completion report in the PMIS, but there is no indication of further oversight. While the shade shelters are intended for outdoor use and as such may still be usable, they cannot fulfill their intended purpose of protecting visitors from harsh weather conditions until installed," the OIG investigators reported.
Steel purchased for shade shelters also was never utilized, the OIG found.
Also lacking from park records was whether any competitive bidding had occurred for the shelters' installation.
"We asked the facilities manager if she had solicited any bids for installation, and she said she had sought 'ballpark quotes' from companies that were onsite for the other portions of the rehabilitation project. She could not provide records of any solicitation," the report noted.
As a result of this poor management, the OIG report said, $250,000 that could have been better spent "addressing more immediate deferred maintenance needs or other park priorities," was wasted.
Bob Krumenaker, who took over as Big Bend superintendent in September 2018, began investigating the purchases soon after the Office of Inspector General was alerted in April 2019 to the apparent misspending.
"The moment we were notified by the OIG that this situation was alleged we jumped on it. We were fully cooperative with the investigation,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
Krumenaker's investigation turned up that the HVAC units were the wrong size and couldn't be used. As for the shade shelter materials, they also were the wrong items for the intended purpose, he said.
"Potentially, they could be turned into something else," the superintendent said, adding, however, that he didn't know what they might be used for.
It's possible the park might be able to send the HVAC units to other government operations that could use them.
“There were significant lapses in accountability in this park, for sure," Krumenaker said. "It was a huge concern and it was one of the highest priorities in the 16 months that I’ve been here to change the culture and change the processes so something like this can never happen again.”
The OIG report recommended that the park improve its managerial oversight and see if it can't use or dispose of the equipment "to address the $255,117 in funds that could have been put to better use."
Comments
What a shame! Makes one wonder who benefitted????? As Tom Cruise said in Jerry McGuire - "Show me the money"!! Hate to be such a cynic, but with the way of the world today...
I suspect Big Bend is not alone among national parks having "lax business practices and poor oversight" of finances.
At Olympic NP In 1999, I was delegated as Acting while my supervisor took annual leave in Hawaii for the month of December. I was literally handed a shoebox with a few miscellaneous minor receipts and tasked with producing a completion report for the construction of a large six-figure trail bridge.
I had to track down tens of thousands of dollars of helicopter & major materials expenses, but many smaller costs could not be documented. The park Chief of Maintenance was quite displeased with me when I explained the situation. I got the definite impression he expected me to fake it. Almost as disturbing was his contention that including the cost of NPS labor involved was not necessary.
I was at Big Bend National Park a few months ago and you couldn't buy a cup of coffee anywhere. There are no signs posted as to who to call in an emergency and I hardly saw a Park Ranger anywhere. Maybe a couple at the Park Headquarters. Nobody manned the gates and if you were in serious trouble, too bad.
The best and most scenic way to enter Big Bend is via the Presidio, Texas entrance. Stay in Alpine, Texas, the park Camp Grounds aren't much. Take plenty of water and make sure your car is gased up and has good tires and brakes. October is an excellent Month to visit Big Bend.
I'm truly not surprised. The common attitude of most park supervisors and "their staff" when ask anything significant about park dilapidation ,disrepair, overcrowding or , rowdy drunk college students i.e. spring break is a bosterous mind your own business we are in control here mentality. As a fifth generation Texan, something else that they'll dislike, white men stole Texas revisionism, I've truly loved the big bend area all my life. The Chihuahuan desert is remarkable. ACCOUNTABILITY IS WHAT THEY WANT FOR YOU AND ME BUT NOT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES..... sound familiar ???
Unfortunately most parks employees are generally academic types. It has been my personal experience being a business owner. Academic types are poor money managers. Better financial management training is the gap in this story.
When you say you have personal experience being a business owner, have you owned large or complex businesses? What type were they? And, you must have had some level of academic training; what was that, in your case?
When you say academic types are poor money managers, I'm unsure of what you mean. Are you referring to folks like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Tim Cook, Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg, Eric Schmidt, and types like that or do you mean more advanced levels of money managers like yourself?
Are you also from that part of Texas, like Jethro? I'm interested because knowing some of your background and the perspective behind your comments would help me understand more of the breadth and depth of what you're trying to tell us.
Love that park so much for astrophotography. And the staff is always friendly. Nothing bad to say about the park in my opinion.
Been to big bend np three times. Never saw a ranger outside of the a/c. Rangers had an attitude instead of enthusiasm. I blame this on the on-site management.