ICF Gets Big Payoff

Kathleen Blanco's fiasco:

ICF International of Fairfax, Va., has secured a potentially big raise recently from the state of Louisiana.

In the waning days of Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration, state officials increased the management contract ceiling from $756 million to $912 million — this, after the Legislature wanted to fire ICF over its handling of the homeowner recovery program, called Road Home.

Road Home was created in June 2006 as a state-run, federally funded plan to compensate homeowners for the breach of New Orleans' government-run levees. Homeowners can apply for grants to repair their homes, or obtain buyouts if they don't want to fix things up.

Yet, 56,000 applicants — nearly 40 percent of the qualified total — had yet to receive a cent as of last month. Plagued by cost overruns and delays, Road Home is expected to cost the taxpayers $10 billion in federal money and has become another glaring symbol of frustration and red tape in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Thanks for nothing, Kathleen Blanco