Washington, D.C. – TOMORROW at 10:00am, the Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing to examine recent allegations that Peter Jiron, the former Deputy CFO at the National Weather Service (NWS), set himself up for a post-retirement consulting contract while he was still employed at NWS and that his supervisor Robert Byrd, the then CFO at NWS, encouraged and approved the contract.
According to the Commerce Department’s Inspector General, in 2009, one month before officially retiring from the NWS, Mr. Jiron negotiated the terms of his consultancy, drafted and edited the associated Statement of Work for the consultancy, drafted terms and conditions of his contract with NWS as a consultant, and eventually signed the consulting contract with the NWS in April 2010.
Part of Mr. Jiron’s consulting agreement included post-retirement housing expensed by the NWS totaling $50,000 in value. Mr. Jiron’s consulting contract lasted 21 months, costing the government $471,875. None of this may have been discovered but for the fact that Mr. Jiron later attempted to persuade employees at NWS to hire a close family member. Unfortunately, even after being presented with all the information in the IG’s report, the Obama administration’s Department of Justice refused to investigate these matters.
Tomorrow’s hearing will examine the extent of abuses and mismanagement at NWS.
WHAT: Hearing on Investigating Contract Misconduct at the National Weather Service
WHEN: WEDNESDAY, July 15, 2015 at 10:00 A.M.
WHERE: 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C.
Witness:
Mr. Mark Greenblatt, Deputy Assistant General for Compliance & Ethics, Office of Inspector General, Department of Commerce
Mr. Robert Byrd, Former Chief Financial Officer, National Weather Service
Mr. Peter Jiron, Former Deputy Chief Financial Officer, National Weather Service
For more information on the hearing, including the hearing charter and a link to the LIVE webcast, visit the Committee website.
