ashbritt
fema officials have yet to determine whether the rates charged by ashbritt are reasonable .
cbs: lion' s share of katrina money went to politically connected ashbritt .
the corps eventually approved an emergency supplemental contract for ashbritt worth about $ 800 million .
he said about 70 percent of the contractors hired by ashbritt are from new jersey .
let’s first review some background about how florida - based ashbritt came to new jersey .
allowing their executives and lobbyists to reap large profits at the expense of taxpayers. ashbritt
ashbritt and their subcontractors do not abide by the rules. the occupational safety and health
death of a teenage worker. another subcontractor hired by ashbritt was a convicted felon with
ashbritt’s contract was, in fact, awarded through a competitive process involving 22 bidders .
ashbritt environmental is a national turnkey rapid - response disaster recovery and special environmental services contractor .
ashbritt maintains some of the strictest operational and management safety guidelines in the industry. learn more .
ashbritt, located in deerfield beach, florida, is a company specializing in disaster relief operations .
broward county government officials expressed similar concern about ashbritt’s fees. a letter from an assistant director in the facilities department questioned why ashbritts work had no written authorization. he added, “the pricing appeared unreasonably high and unfortunately because these services were outside the scope” of services to be provided by ashbritt .
to the extent that ashbritt’s disaster recovery work produced controversy, perkins chalks it up to naked politics .
ashbritt cited in race for rep. patrick murphy' s u. s. house district 18 seat
establish an independent testing and monitoring program. ashbritt is responsible for environmental restoration of both public and leased sites. ashbritt will also remove all debris from sites for final disposal at landfills prior to closure .
the army corps of engineers confirmed that ashbritt worked briefly in new orleans before moving east to mississippi .
we also checked with the gao about ashbritt’s alleged role, and the agency confirmed that neither ashbritt nor any other disposal company was referenced in their report. the gao is the investigative arm of congress .
ashbritt was the biggest debris removal contractor in mississippi after katrina. ashbritt won a competitive contract with the corps of engineers to do the corps’ clean - up in mississippi, and this turned out to be a great blessing for our state. ashbritt did a tremendous job, subcontracted work to many mississippi companies and provided jobs to hundreds of our workers. originally i was skeptical of the corps bringing in an outside company, but ashbritt proved me wrong, and we will always be grateful for ashbritt in our state .
christie used a contract already in place between connecticut and ashbritt as the model for the new jersey contract .
ashbritt august 2015, title sponsor for the overtown youth center “day of service – save our sons initiative” .
congressman chip pickering (r - ms), however, pulled no punches describing ashbritt’s work after katrina .
barbour, who is a close friend of christie and helped shepherd his political career, personally suggested ashbritt .
brittany perkins is the chief executive officer at ashbritt environmental and a member of the company’s board of directors. brittany oversees the company direction and strategy of ashbritt. she directly manages business partnerships and client relations. after being named ceo in 2016, brittany oversaw ashbritt’s response operations to the blue cut fire in san bernardino read more
still, perkins points to ashbritt as a shining example of how he could apply his business skills in congress .
ashbritt is well versed in collecting, managing, and disposing of mixed construction and demolition debris. learn more .
doherty was the target of a corruption investigation over the ashbritt contract, though no charges were ever brought against him. he was also accused of terminating another debris removal contract and awarding it instead to ashbritt due to political considerations .
subcontractors claimed in more than a dozen lawsuits that ashbritt didn' t pay them all or part of the money they were owed for katrina cleanup work they did in mississippi. ashbritt and the plaintiffs settled most cases — confidentially .
ashbritt officials declined to comment on the hurricane katrina contracts. jean todd, a federal contracting officer who helps oversee the ashbritt deal for the army corps of engineers, said she was determined to ensure that the price was fair .
in mississippi, ashbritt conducted debris removal, hazardous tree mitigation and demolition services in 17 jurisdictions, covering over 8, 400 square miles (22, 000 km 2) and over 175 miles (280 km) inland. ashbritt collected, hauled and processed 21 million cubic yards of debris and wreckage. ashbritt staffed, managed and operated 49 debris management sites. ashbritt hauled over 700, 000 loads of debris, using 12, 400 certified operational vehicles .
ashbritt’s critics contend it artificially drives up costs and takes advantage of officials in desperate circumstances, intimidated by washington bureaucracy .
the state contract allows the towns to hire ashbritt without bidding out the work and frees them of some environmental regulations. unlike any other contractor, ashbritt is allowed to bring in subcontractors that don’t have a state license to transport waste .
ashbritt general counsel jared moskowitz called tittel’s claim about the company’s role in new orleans and louisiana
hocus pocus .
former gov. haley barbour of mississippi — a founding partner of ashbritt’s washington lobbying firm — told the star - ledger he recommended that christie use ashbritt. christie took barbour’s advice, and 43 towns also hired the firm without bidding .
ashbritt was the initial response prime contractor for the usace in both louisiana (la) and mississippi (ms). within the first 30 days following contract activation, ashbritt initiated debris removal operations in 11 louisiana jurisdictions as well as the causeway on highway 90. additionally, usace assigned ashbritt, by task order, to service 16 separate jurisdictions in mississippi covering over 8, 400 square miles providing debris removal operations from the coast to over 175 miles inland. in louisiana, ashbritt :
christie' s spokesman, michael drewniak, said that the ashbritt contract was a temporary and fast solution to a crisis .
ashbritt has already made the commitment that all of our marketing proposals and internal documents will be printed on recycled paper. whenever applicable and possible, ashbritt encourages and performs paper - free transactions, eliminating paper completely for internal and external business transactions .
ented ashbritt’s ownership status... ...... ...... ... 38
coburn said he was concerned about high fees ashbritt claims to have paid subcontractors with federal and state taxpayer money. coburn questioned whether ashbritt was taking advantage of taxpayers like other environmental restoration companies did after hurricane katrina struck the gulf coast in 2005 .
over the years, ashbritt’s political ties cannot have hurt when it has sought out state contracts. randal perkins, the founder of ashbritt, has close ties to former gov. haley barbour of mississippi, one of gov. chris christie’s early supporters .
as a result, ashbritt is dominating the debris - removal market in parts of the state ravaged by sandy. but some local officials and haulers say ashbritt’s pitch is nothing more than a scare tactic to lure local officials to pay its higher premiums .
in long beach township, ashbritt was paid $ 719, 309 to collect and haul 7, 149 tons of debris — at a rate of $ 100 a ton — according to records provided by ocean county, which has encouraged towns to use ashbritt .
doherty and other new jersey officials, including gov. chris christie, who awarded contracts to ashbritt said their primary concern was a quick and effective sandy response. christie was fast - tracking a $ 100 million contract for ashbritt even before sandy made landfall .
he admitted that he had an ownership interest in one of ashbritt’s subcontractors on the sandy job, and another after hurricane katrina .
local mayors who have employed the company in sandy’s aftermath said they had little time to search on their own and welcomed ashbritt .
drewniak pointed out that towns were not obligated to use ashbritt. they could have hired their own cleanup crews, he said .
ashbritt is capable of performing salt and sand spreading services through utilization of our diverse, nationwide, subcontracting partners. learn more .
tittel acknowledged, however, that he had no evidence ashbritt was doing the same things that were questioned in the federal report .
taking the advice of former mississippi gov. haley barbour, christie awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract two days after sandy struck last october. barbour is a founding partner in the lobbying firm that has represented ashbritt’s interests in washington for a number of years .
seaside heights mayor william akers said ashbritt has subbed out the work to a local contractor who already was helping the town with debris removal .
they were on the site anyway, they agreed to ashbritt’s price and they’re still working today ,
akers said .
ashbritt also was a co - defendant in an unrelated lawsuit brought by former ambassador lewis lucke. the suit accused ashbritt and partner gb group of breaching their contract and owing lucke $ 492, 000 for consulting services in the aftermath of the 2010 haiti earthquake .
the army corps of engineers awarded ashbritt a contract worth $ 850 million to remove hurricane katrina debris in mississippi, with an option to increase the dollar amount to one billion dollars. ashbritt had already been activated under a preexisting contingency contract for $ 150 million .
ashbritt does very little debris removal itself, but hires an army of subcontractors and pays them a fraction of the state’s contracted rates .
ashbritt is constantly considering new technology to divert waste away from landfills and into recyclable and sustainable streams of commerce. ashbritt always follows best management practices in reducing, diverting, and disposing of all disaster - generated debris to maximize the potential for recycling and beneficial use .
ashbritt is a provider of emergency clean up services. they have a history of using political connections and pure force to make money .
these questions need to be answered and i look forward to hearing from ashbritt tomorrow ,
ramos said at the news conference .
but perkins is aware he’s going to face a good deal of negativity because of controversies over ashbritt’s contracting and political contributions to republicans .
new jersey gov. chris christie' s administration awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract to clean up after hurricane sandy in 2012. before that, ashbritt had hired a lobbying firm founded by former mississippi gov. harley barbour, whom christie called a
mentor .
once the ashbritt trucks start removing household items, caldwell said he expects they will have to make multiple passes through the hardest hit neighborhoods .
the fourth contractor, crowder gulf of alabama, whose rates are closest to ashbritt’s, are charging $ 16. 30 a cubic yard .
but while a full picture has yet to form, anecdotal evidence shows towns that did not use ashbritt spent less than those that did .
we encourage safety through our “safety pays” program to reward workers for continued support and compliance with osha and ashbritt safety procedures. learn more .
ashbritt is proficient in the removal of derelict, abandoned, and submerged vessels / vehicles and the management of aggregation sites. learn more .
tittel said christie did not do the due diligence on the contract, adding that does not mean
getting advice from ashbritt’s lobbyist .
soon after perkins met with the dccc, perkins and ashbritt were the subject of a whisper campaign concerning the debris - removal company’s work after disasters like hurricanes katrina and sandy, as first reported friday in politico florida’s playbook. critics over the years have accused ashbritt of using its political influence to secure contracts or of over - charging the government – charges ashbritt has denied and that have never resulted in criminal charges .
in recent actions, the federal government went after local governments after reviewing cleanup costs. fema has not sought money from contractors like ashbritt .
a day after hurricane sandy struck new jersey, the christie administration awarded ashbritt a $ 100 million no - bid emergency contract to help clean state roads and waterways, also allowing towns to hire the firm without bidding. the contract allowed ashbritt to bypass several business and environmental regulations .
similarly, ashbritt points to alleged inaccuracies in the j & a, including several which it says are found within the portion of the j & a document ashbritt describes as the crux of the agency' s justification.  protester' s comments at 12. this passage states :
as it did in new jersey, ashbritt cultivated high - level political connections as it eyed lucrative contracts after the hurricane struck the gulf coast .
description: ashbritt is a provider of emergency clean up services. they have a history of using political connections and pure force to make money .
we turn first to ashbritt' s contention that the use of a set - aside is beyond the authority provided agencies by the stafford act .
[ 12 ] we also note for the record that we have heard no suggestion from ashbritt that the exercise of this option by the corps was improper or not needed because the corps had wrongly determined that it was approaching the $ 500 million ceiling applicable to ashbritt' s base contract .
yet critics claimed ashbritt benefited from its inside connections in the christie administration. ashbritt charged towns $ 21. 25 per cubic yard to gather roadside debris, nearly double the $ 11. 70 asking price of another florida company, according to a 2013 asbury park press review of municipal bills .
the pressure local officials felt to open up contracts for bids stemmed from controversy over the rates that ashbritt charged for some of its debris removal services .
as a result, ashbritt has nearly all of the contracts in the county. and fear of losing out on federal dollars helped drive its success .
ashbritt offers client - specific pre - planning, and considers this one of the most advantageous steps in disaster response and recovery operations. learn more .
in addition to osha and other jurisdictional safety requirements, ashbritt continually updates and promotes our incentive driven ‘safety first’ and ‘safety pays’ programs. learn more .
ashbritt is well versed in all waterway debris operations to include floating debris, submerged debris, and sediment removal such as dredging operations. learn more .
u. s. sen. tom coburn (r - ok) on wednesday questioned the propriety of a no - bid contract ashbritt obtained from new jersey gov. chris christie. christie awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract last november to remove debris in the wake of extra - tropical storm sandy. late last month, the chairman of ashbritts lobbying firm appeared to be returning the favor, hosting a fundraiser for christie at his virginia home .
schito said his middletown - based company m & s; waste services was replaced in sea bright by ashbritt after he already had started to haul debris for half the price. he also said local contractors are not getting work while ashbritt and the companies they brought into the state are reaping the rewards .
all of the towns in new jersey that used ashbritt and subsequently contacted by the star - ledger said they were pleased with the company’s speed and efficiency .
ashbritt provides full - service emergency snow and ice support operations to include loading, hauling, sand / salt spreading, and site management. learn more .
the legislators warned that the work being done by the firm, ashbritt inc. of pompano beach, may also pose a danger to the state’s environment .
the reason she called [ hearings on ashbritt’s contracts ] was political, but she absolutely had an absolute right to do it, for the record .
perkins boasts that ashbritt pays 100 percent of its employees' health insurance and has transferred about 25 percent of the company' s shares to some of them .
this claim caught our eye since ashbritt received a no - bid contract from new jersey to handle the bulk of the hurricane sandy cleanup. even more eye - catching? the nearly 40 - page gao report cited by tittel not only never mentions ashbritt, it looks only at debris disposal in the new orleans area .
moskowitz said ashbritt was only in louisiana for a couple of weeks after katrina before the army corps of engineers moved them to do debris removal work in mississippi .
finally, ashbritt mounts several challenges to the j & a used here to justify the agency' s decision to limit competition. specifically, ashbritt contends that the j & a does not fully comply with far requirements, contains factual errors, and does not logically support the limited competition approach selected by the agency. we have reviewed each of ashbritt' s contentions in this area, and find that none of them lead to a conclusion that the agency has acted improperly here .
“ashbritt, as well as any company, will use every available resource to stay competitive. we are proud of the work we do, ” moskowitz added .
the investigation by the office of inspector general with the department of homeland security was disclosed in a state comptroller’s report released tuesday focusing on whether ashbritt overcharged eight shore towns. the report found the towns were mistakenly overcharged more than $ 300, 000, but the errors were made by a group debris monitors, not ashbritt .
a 2006 congressional investigation into fraud and waste in the hurricane katrina cleanup found ashbritt' s $ 500 million contracts were considered wasteful and mismanaged. ashbritt charged the federal government 44 percent more than a local contractor testified he would have charged. the resulting house minority report found “the people doing the actual work were paid just a fraction of the contract price. ” the company paid subcontractors on average $ 10 of the $ 23 ashbritt was paid per cubic yard, according to the report .
it also allowed ashbritt to engage in a practice that critics would later describe as
double dipping .
perkins was a partial owner of some of the contractors to which it delegated work, meaning in some cases he was making money both from the fee that ashbritt took off the top and the funds allocated to its subcontractor .
a review of the company’s contract with new jersey, obtained by the star - ledger under the state’s open public records act, shows where the ashbritt magic lies .
beaufort county contracted with ashbritt environmental, a company that specializes in disaster recovery services, to find and extract the abandoned boats. they will go to a landfill .
officials insist they can manage two large cleanups at once. throughout the weekend, disaster specialist ashbritt inc, drc emergency services and waste haulers, including waste management (
[ 6 ] we note for the record that ashbritt' s home office is located in broward county, florida. protester' s comments at 2, 10 .
ashbritt has been criticized by local media and members of congress for its cleanup work during hurricane katrina, after accusations that the company was inflating costs of debris removal .
ashbritt is able to provide snow management operations for communities when snow fall gets past the point of simple road maintenance. from plowing to removal, salt spreading to transporting, each event can require a different combination of techniques to clear the rights of way; ashbritt is a full - service contractor that is able to address each client’s snow / ice support needs. ashbritt assisted over 43 clients during the halloween snowstorm event in 2011, and most recently assisted more than 10 clients for winter snowstorm jonas .
a week after katrina made landfall, ashbritt, which already employed the lobbying firm founded by mississippi gov. haley barbour, brought on another lobbyist: mike parker, who until just a few years prior was the bush administration official in charge of the army corps of engineers. ashbritt employed parker’s son at the time, perkins noted .
randal “randy” perkins founded ashbritt as a florida corporation in 1992. randy sets the vision for the organization through his leadership of the ashbritt board of directors. with 25 years of industry leadership, randy has in - depth knowledge of the disaster response and recovery process and stakeholders. randy has completed course work at the university of read more
during catastrophic events, ashbritt can provide necessary services from emergency power, to food, water and ice supplies through the establishment of full man - camps. learn more .
in mississippi, we collected, hauled and processed 20. 5 million cubic yards of vegetative debris and wreckage while staffing, managing and operating 52 dms. ashbritt specifically :
michael drewniak, a spokesman for the governor, questioned the timing of the news conference, a day before democrats have called a joint legislative hearing on the ashbritt contract .
christie’s decision to award a no - bid contract to ashbritt, described in a series of articles in the star - ledger, has come under fire from democratic lawmakers .
dow knight is a graduate of the united states merchant marine academy in kings point, new york. his maritime and inter - modal experience, both ashore and at sea, provides ashbritt with the logistics and transportation experience necessary to conduct large scale operations for both domestic and international response requirements. for over a decade, ashbritt has applied read more
quinn said the new contracts would give local officials options if disaster strikes again rather than having to choose between ashbritt or cobbling together their own plan, which happened after sandy .
perkins defended ashbritt’s approach to government contracting, which he admitted entailed getting involved in the political process to sway lawmakers and regulators in charge of doling out billions in government aid .
ashbritt had been recommended to christie by haley barbour, the former republican governor of mississippi who oversaw the cleanup there from hurricane katrina, according to state sen. bob gordon .
former governor haley barbour, a friend of (christie' s), contacted governor christie and told him he would recommend a company called ashbritt because of its work related to katrina. we later learned that mr. barbour has a business relationship with ashbritt ,
said gordon, who spoke on behalf of state senate democrats to abc news .
ashbritt is exclusively a disaster response and recovery contractor. we are tenured in collection, removal, reducing, hauling, and disposal of disaster generated debris streams. learn more .
ashbritt' s contention in this area is based on the premise that the agency is making multiple awards so that it will later be able to hold mini - competitions for this cleanup work. under this rubric, ashbritt argues that the far restrictions above should have led the agency to conclude that it could not reasonably make multiple awards under this solicitation .
ar, tab m (j & a), at 3. in this regard, ashbritt argues that this statement wrongly includes obligations for roofing and temporary building contractors as part of the justification for awarding a new contract for debris removal, and wrongly implies that local contractors were not ready to compete earlier but are ready now - - even though ashbritt claims that two of the three large mississippi contractors that the j & a identifies as able to compete here, in fact, submitted proposals in the earlier competition that ashbritt won .
ashbritt has to be used in order to maximize the fema reimbursement ,
david breeden, the ocean township (ocean county) administrator, told the town council when it was weighing other options, according to minutes of the meeting .
if the township does not use ashbritt, it jeopardizes the fema reimbursement regarding solid waste collection and disposal .
the christie administration did not use ashbritt to clean up state roads, but the contract allowed municipalities, 53 in all, to hire the firm without bidding. christie has said it gave towns devastated by sandy speedy options to accelerate the recovery efforts. the oig is investigating debris removal costs in at least two municipalities that employed ashbritt: belmar and beach haven .
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joining with jeff tittel, head of the new jersey chapter of the sierra club, legislators called attention to a 2008 federal report that criticized ashbritt’s handling of debris after hurricane katrina .
in 2012, new jersey governor chris christie came under scrutiny after his administration awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract to clean up the aftermath of hurricane sandy. a federal investigation found that christie did not break any laws, but public outrage centred around the cost of the contract and ashbritt' s significant political donations to organisations such as the republican governors association .
ashbritt is able to conduct removal, transport and disposal of abandoned vehicles, boats and other vessels to include aggregation staging; inventorying and indexing for easy location and retrieval; information dissemination; owner contact; and supplemental investigations for proper disposition will be conducted. ashbritt also conducts decontamination and recycling of vehicles and vessels and has a significant amount of experience removing abandoned vehicles .
jared moskowitz, a vice president with ashbritt, said last night the oig audits
all disaster operations
and its inquiry in new jersey was expected and not indicative of potential trouble .
ashbritt’s moskowitz stressed that new jersey used the same prices the company charged connecticut in 2011 following a massive snowstorm, and that connecticut used a competitive bidding process that attracted nine other companies .
ashbritt’s practical experience, in addition to our extensive fema training, allows us to conduct and apply the lessons learned to our clients through annual on - site training opportunities. learn more .
ashbritt argues that the agency' s decision to limit this competition to mississippi firms exceeds the authority granted by the stafford act. specifically, ashbritt contends that the preference envisioned by the act does not include the authority to use a set - aside, and that the use of a set - aside, without express statutory authority, violates the competition in contracting act. ashbritt also argues that the stafford act does not permit limiting the preference to firms located in only one state, to the exclusion of firms located in other states similarly affected by the same major disaster, in this case, hurricane katrina. finally, ashbritt argues that the j & a prepared here does not support the agency' s decision to limit competition to mississippi firms .
ashbritt has come a long way since 1992, when it received its first subcontract from brown & root (a halliburton subsidiary) after hurricane andrew. the company also employs top lobbyists, including former representative james a. hayes, d - louisiana, and mississippi governor haley barbour’s former firm, barbour griffith and rogers, which helped ashbritt get work after the 2004 florida hurricanes .
ashbritt, right now, is focused on removing that vegetative material that will eventually be taken to nine mile road landfill where it will be ground up to reduce its volume, caldwell said .
in two major categories — cleaning up construction and demolition debris along with trees and other vegetative waste — ashbritt’s rates in most cases were more than double those charged by other companies awarded contracts .
belmar eventually awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract for debris removal in the town. moran and doherty insisted that they never discussed the contract and that their marriage was irrelevant to its award .
he said he is not concerned, like other local officials, that wall would lose out on the maximum fema reimbursement — 75 percent of cleanup costs — if he didn’t go with ashbritt .
perkins said christie skipped the time - consuming bidding process because he had to act fast in light of the devastation, and the contract was modeled after a connecticut contract ashbritt won after bidding .
but critics say that the speed with which ashbritt was ushered in to help the state meant that 40 - plus municipalities also quickly agreed to hire them, using the emergency contract christie approved .
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perkins' issues extend beyond ashbritt. two contractors accused perkins and his wife, saily, of not paying for part of the work the contractors performed at the couple' s broward county home .
but gordon, who was among the democrats who requested the records and asked the ashbritt ceo to testify to the state legislature recently, said that towns felt confident adopting a state - approved contract .
ashbritt environmental is a u. s. based disaster recovery and special environmental services contractor. since 1992, we have managed and executed more than 230 disaster recovery missions and numerous special environmental projects .
ashbritt provides vessel recovery; underwater welding and salvage; debris removal from canals and waterways; deployment of divers; deployment of remote operated vessel (rov); deployment of barge and landing craft as work platforms for equipment and supply transport; mechanical and hydraulic dredging of canals, marinas and navigable waterways. in 2012, new jersey tasked ashbritt to remove vessels from the bay following hurricane sandy .
ashbritt raises three other challenges to the solicitation here. first, it contends that regardless of whether the agency acted within its discretion in conducting this procurement as a mississippi set - aside, the solicitation is improperly ambiguous because it fails to provide clear guidance on what constitutes residing, or primarily doing business, in that state. second, ashbritt argues that the agency has failed to comply with the far regulations that govern the use of multiple - award contracts. third, ashbritt contends that the solicitation impermissibly fails to include an estimate for the demolition work that will be covered by the contract .
“ashbritt has been, is and will continue to be the leader in our industry. we have done more disaster cleanup work than any other company in our industry over the last five years and we are responsible for the largest cleanup ever done by a single company after hurricane katrina devastated the state of mississippi, ” said jared moskowitz, ashbritt’s general counsel and executive vice president of business development .
when the state did go out to bid last month, ashbritt’s prices in key areas were significantly higher — sometimes more than three times as much — than the three other firms that won work .
ashbritt is well - versed in all aspects of debris management operations. this encompasses emergency push operations for critical facility and priority route clearance; right - of - way debris collection; curbside segregation; dms reduction, recycling and final disposal; permitting; dms site closeout; and final reconciliation and auditing. ashbritt understands that operations with the client must be conducted in a symbiotic manner with full transparency .
even at that lower price new jersey has paid ashbritt, the contract has drawn criticism, with some local officials arguing that local waste disposal companies could have done the job at an even lower price .
ashbritt environmental 565 east hillsboro blvd. deerfield beach, fl 33441 tel: 954. 725. 6992 tf: 1. 800. 244. 5094 fax: 954. 725. 6991 response @ urltoken
ashbritt provides training opportunities to our clients in order to learn and adapt to experiences and trends. they are customized to meet specific client needs, often after direct input and inquiry from the client. from hurricane katrina and hurricane sandy, to winter storms across the us, to trends taking place in fema and other federal agencies, ashbritt continues to evaluate and compile lessons learned for our clients and staff .
mokowitzs deerfield beach - based company is no stranger to controversy. in 2010, an auditor determined ashbritt received $ 765, 000 in overpayments from the broward county school board for cleanup following hurricane wilma .
the company hired george gilmore, then the chairman of the republican party of ocean county, where a gop - controlled county board offered to pay towns for sandy cleanup costs if they awarded contracts to ashbritt .
a large mound of clean sifted sand on the beach in seaside heights made as part of the cleanup contracted by the state to ashbritt, inc. (photo by tony kurdzuk / the star - ledger )
perkins parlayed his lawn maintenance business into one of the nation' s largest privately held debris cleanup companies, ashbritt environmental inc. , after getting a small contract to clean up after hurricane andrew in 1992 .
new jersey, for the most part, is hiring its contractors directly, with about 15 communities already selecting ashbritt environmental, a contractor based in florida that also played a major role in the hurricane katrina cleanup .
ashbritt itself does very little, if any, actual debris removal. instead, it uses a mix of local and out - of - state contractors and pays them a fraction of the state - contracted rate .
days before sandy struck, former mississippi gov. haley barbour advised christie to go with the firm based on his experience with them after katrina. barbour is a founding partner in a lobbying firm that represents ashbritt .
hurricane sandy slammed new jersey on oct. 29, 2012, causing widespread damage here, in new york and connecticut. hours after the storm, gov. chris christie awarded ashbritt a no - bid contract that piggybacked off one the company had with connecticut. the decision has drawn public scrutiny for a variety of reasons, such as higher - than - usual disposal costs to towns for which ashbritt has handled debris disposal .
ashbritt has cleaned up debris for fema and other government agencies after other hurricanes. besides possessing a huge roster of subcontractors and the logistics expertise to route hundreds of trucks, the company is also politically well connected .
that angered mr. perkins, ashbritt' s owner, who said the new contract would not benefit small companies, which he said were already getting more than 70 percent of money his company spent in mississippi .
“we’re not restricted [ from posting subcontracts ], ” ashbritt’s perkins says. “we submit all our contracting data to the army corps on a weekly basis and that’s all available from them if they so choose. ”
perkins also has ties to top south florida democrats like former miami heat star center alonzo mourning, intellectual - disabilities activist anthony shriver and lobbyist ron book, who all run charities that perkins and ashbritt have supported .
the contract and the multiple waivers ashbritt got were meant to speed up a monumental cleanup task, making life easier for mayors and local officials flooded with work in a post - sandy world, the governor’s office said .
ashbritt assures that any jurisdiction in which we operate a dms it will be properly remediated. there will be significant costs associated with this operation as well as close scrutiny by the local press and environmental groups. site remediation will go smoothly if baseline data collection and site operation procedures are followed. ashbritt has operated more than 50 dms sites at one time and is able to consider all environmental factors that may be affected by the project .
in the end, the town paid bergeron $ 753, 959 to remove about 64, 000 cubic yards. if ashbritt was hired, the same job would have cost $ 1. 36 million, bowden said .
in 2016, the republican party aired attack ads against ashbritt' s record after ceo randall
randy
perkins ran as the democratic party candidate for the treasure coast - palm beach congressional seat in florida, usa .
ashbritt also contributed $ 136, 224 to the republican governors association since 2011, according to a 2013 newark star ledger report concerning sandy. the star - ledger also reported ashbritt contributed $ 150, 000 to the democratic governors association, since 2011, and that perkins personally gave “ $ 218, 500 to federal candidates or committees since 2001, with nearly every dollar going to republican causes, according to the center for responsive politics. ”
i’m probably one of the most politically astute people in any business industry, let alone my own industry ,
said perkins, owner and ceo of disaster relief contractor ashbritt inc. , in a wednesday evening interview .
so far, ashbritt, working directly for about 50 local jurisdictions in new jersey, has collected and disposed of about three million cubic yards of debris, at a total cost of about $ 150 million, officials said .
the company, ashbritt, left new contaminated sites in its wake as it did cleanup along the gulf coast after 2005’s hurricane katrina, jeff tittel said in a feb. 22 opinion column he wrote for njtoday. net .
when sandy hit new jersey in late 2012, the company enlisted the services of leading political operatives in the state, some of whom had direct connections to local officials who signed off on millions of dollars in payments to ashbritt .
perkins downplayed the role of ashbritt’s political operation in securing the initial sandy contract, but admitted that the company took advantage of that operation in order to ensure that it retained its position as one of the state’s dominant sandy contractors .
the company was already under contract with the u. s. army corps of engineers, the agency tasked with the government’s immediate response. but given the scale of the disaster, the financial potential for ashbritt was far higher .
ashbritt’s comprehensive going green program reduces our organization’s adverse impact on the environment through activities such as reductions in waste generation and carbon emissions. our long - term goal is to lessen the amount of carbon generated from our recovery operations .
according to his official florida house webpage, moskowitz is the director of government relations and general counsel for ashbritt environmental. the company claims to be the “national turn key rapid - response disaster recovery and special environmental services contractor. ”
susan greatorex, a fema spokeswoman, said last week the agency has yet to determine whether ashbritt’s prices are
fair and reasonable ,
saying those conclusions will be made in the months ahead as towns submit for federal reimbursement .
on dec. 27, the town wrote ashbritt a check for $ 4. 62 million for collecting and hauling an estimated 108, 430 cubic yards of debris, according town financial records obtained under the state’s open public records act .
it also hired maggie moran, once an aide to former gov. jon corzine and the wife of belmar, n. j. , mayor matt doherty. moran crafted a marketing strategy designed to sell city officials on ashbritt’s services .
for example, the emergency contract with the state pays ashbritt $ 400 for every tree it removes from the roadway, but the company can hire a subcontractor who is willing to do it for $ 200 and then pocket the difference .
an ashbritt subcontractor hauls away katrina induced debris, feb. 16, 2006 in pass christian, miss. the u. s. army corps of engineers announced friday, march 21, 2006, that a $ 150 million award to gulfport - based necaise brothers construction had been sidelined by protests from other companies. in the end, the beneficiary will be pompano beach, fla. - based ashbritt inc. , which earlier had been awarded a $ 500 million contract .
the senate democrats have requested all correspondence among christie and his top administration staff as they decided in october 2012 to fast - track a contract for the firm ashbritt to clean up sand, roads and other debris in the wake of sandy .
yet government watchdogs maintain that there’s much more to the game than pure merit - based competition. companies like ashbritt are able to anticipate potentially lucrative opportunities because they have hired former fema and corps officials who can guide them through the process .
barbour himself faced questions in new jersey in the weeks and months after the hurricane because his political lobbying firm represented ashbritt, the florida - based company that was awarded a lucrative emergency contract by christie to perform debris removal after the storm .
audits of the work by hurricane katrina contractors — although not necessarily ashbritt — found instances where the companies had been paid twice for collecting a single load of debris or overestimating how many miles they drove to dump it, resulting in higher fees .
the christie administration once again disputed the characterization that it was a no - bid contract, noting it
piggybacked
off a competitively bid contract by the state of connecticut. ashbritt beat out nine other bidders in connecticut, the administration notes .
ashbritt, which is headquartered in florida, is a client of barbour' s lobbying firm, bgr group. christie attended a february fundraiser at the home of bgr' s chairman, ed rogers, according to the center for public integrity .
after beating out the competition, like so many contractors, ashbritt’s ability to maintain its advantage in the future will continue to depend upon its ability to anticipate opportunities and develop a cozy relationship with the army corps of engineers and other government bureaucracies .
new jersey democratic legislators set up hearings last month to investigate ashbritts no - bid contract. the newark star / ledger reports democrats questioned whether taxpayers are getting the best deal and whether the decision may ultimately jeopardize reimbursements from the federal government. ”
the administration chose the connecticut contract because it is
regionally comparable, both economically and geographically ,
drewniak said. the connecticut towns that used ashbritt saw the maximum reimbursements by fema, and drewniak said new jersey towns can expect the same .
jeff bertrand, the administrator for wall township, said ashbritt officials made their pitch to him days after the storm. they drove around town and estimated it would cost $ 2 million to remove the downed trees and other debris that had piled up .
a report by the us general accountability office (gao) in 2008 found that the disposal of katrina wastes by ashbritt in the south resulted in the creation of contaminated sites along the gulf coast and two new superfund sites in new orleans .
the investigators are asking how much money ashbritt will collect and, in turn, what it will pay subcontractors performing the work, said a house investigator who did not want her name used because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter .
but three communities in mississippi, which found their own contractors rather than accept the terms offered by ashbritt, have negotiated contracts of $ 10. 64 a cubic yard to $ 18. 25 a cubic yard, including collection, processing and disposal .
ashbritt is central to his rags - to - riches campaign story, as he said he was a father who once relied on food stamps. today the company has branched out to provide demolition services, as well as environmental mitigation and public works services .
christie hired the firm for up to $ 100 million of work two days after the storm devastated much of the jersey shore and rampaged through the northeast. the total earned by ashbritt could be more, since new jersey towns hired the firm as well .
randy sets the vision for the organization through his leadership of the ashbritt board of directors. with 25 years of industry leadership, randy has in - depth knowledge of the disaster response and recovery process and stakeholders. randy has completed course work at the university of central florida in business administration and the university of miami in global business concepts. he holds seats on the board of directors of several national charitable organizations and is very active in state and local charitable endeavors. he sits on the ashbritt foundation board .
ashbritt, which has won the biggest share of those contracts, is being paid about $ 15 per cubic yard to collect and process debris, federal officials said. it is also being reimbursed for costs if it has to dispose of material in landfills .
a bulldozer contracted by ashbritt, inc. piles debris being collected in a temporary dump at the base of the route 37 bridge in seaside heights in the wake of hurricane sandy' s destruction. (photo by tony kurdzuk / the star - ledger )
christie’s no - bid contract with florida - based ashbritt inc. — which gave the firm unequaled access to local towns stricken by the storm — borrowed wholesale, or
piggybacked
from the company’s 2008 contract with connecticut to help speed up recovery efforts .
following hurricane katrina in august 2005, as the united states army corps of engineers (usace) advanced contracting initiative (aci) contractor for u. s. region 3, ashbritt was the initial response contractor for both louisiana and mississippi. ashbritt was ultimately tasked by the usace as the prime contractor for the entire debris mission in the state of mississippi. owing to the severity of the damage, this mission proved to be the largest debris cleanup and recovery by a single company in u. s. history .
the company was a lead government contractor working chiefly on debris removal after two of the country’s most devastating recent natural disasters: hurricane katrina and superstorm sandy. in both cases, ashbritt flexed its political muscle in order to maximize its piece of ensuing procurement opportunities .
jared moskowitz, legal counsel for ashbritt, told abc news that there was nothing amiss in the company' s dealings with new jersey. in times of crisis or disasters, states don' t have time to put contracts out for bid, he said .
according to senate filings, ashbritt paid about $ 40, 000 in the first half of 2005 to barbour griffith & rogers, the washington lobbying firm co - founded by governor barbour of mississippi, who is also a former chairman of the republican national committee .
in a conference call with the record on wednesday, they said they are getting plans in place to help people like the husers. the county has a contract with disaster recovery contractor ashbritt environmental to help remove
all storm - related debris ,
caldwell said .
ashbritt’s chief draw in new jersey and elsewhere was its contracting model: rather than doing the work itself, the company brought on subcontractors and took a fee from the awards delegated to them. that allowed for a high degree of coordination, but it swelled costs .
a dec. 6 news release from toms river describes ashbritt as a
fema - approved
contractor. asked about the toms river statement, albert pillot, a spokesman with fema, said ,
fema does not endorse, approve or recommend any contractors.
ashbritt environmental , commonly referred to as ashbritt or ashbritt , inc. , is located in deerfield beach , florida and is a company specializing in disaster relief operations . 
ashbritt environmental, commonly referred to as ashbritt or ashbritt, inc., is located in deerfield beach, florida and is a company specializing in disaster relief operations.
ashbritt environmental, commonly referred to as ashbritt or ashbritt, inc., is located in deerfield beach, florida and is a company specializing in disaster relief operations.