Politics & Government
Recovery Dollars Used to Benefit Local Interests
Institute for Learning Innovation, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center among recipients.
A month after being sworn into office, President Barack Obama signed the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" into law. The purpose of the act was to create jobs and give an immediate boost to a sluggish economy.
Along with providing tax cuts for families and small business, the act injected$275 billion for federal contracts, grants and loans. The grants were earmarked primarily for construction of roads and bridges, scientific research and the expansion of broadband and wireless service.
As part of the allocation of funds, the act also mandated that a website tracking tool be made available to target waste, fraud and abuse.
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For Edgewater Patch, the tracking site allowed us to get a look at some of the grants offered to businesses and organizations in our area. We found $5.1 million worth of contracts and grants to businesses and organizations in Edgewater and Davidsonville. Here are the details on a few selected contracts and grants.
Company Dollar amount Total jobs created Project description Institute for Learning Innovation (Edgewater) $92,000 0 Building an exhibit at Marian Koshland Science Museum. Bausum and Duckett electrical contractors (Edgewater) $111,100 3 Naval Academy building construction (subcontractor) Alicyn Campbell (Edgewater) $1,800 0 Dept. of Labor grant Smithsonian SERC/Edifice Group $1,200,000 1 Install replacement generator Smithsonian SERC/Ewingcole $66,000 0 Engineering services$1,600,000 1.49 Upgrade horse trails in the Alleghany National Forest $198,966 n/a Department of Energy residential housing retrofit contract
In Edgewater, the Institute for Learning Innovation on Braverton Street was awarded $92,000 last August to produce a front-end evaluation on brain development and learning through different life stages. The nonprofit organization’s work benefits The Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Sciences in Washington, D.C.
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Another local project to benefit from Recovery dollars is the upgrade of the Smithsonian Environmental’s Research Center’s electrical systems. The facility is at 647 Contees Wharf Road in Edgewater.
The Edifice Group Inc. of Rockville led the project, with a total award of $746,490, which included two sub-award vendors, General Paving and Contracting Inc. of Baltimore, $117,000, and HSU Development Inc. of Rockville, $425,000.
Additionally, Philadelphia-based EwingCole, an architecture and engineering services firm, was awarded $61,573 on Aug. 18, 2009 to prepare and, or, revise design documents for the installation of an emergency generator
The www.recovery.gov website allows for the, “reporting of potential fraud, waste and abuse.”
