Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : $347-Million EPA Contract Questioned

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $347-million contract to Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., despite previous concerns that the major contractor was improperly billing the government, according to internal EPA documents. The report of the EPA inspector general said the questionable billing persisted in the new contract and that the EPA also permitted numerous conflicts of interest in the current agreement. Computer Sciences Corp. runs a major portion of EPA’s computer system. The documents were released at a hearing of the House energy and commerce investigations subcommittee.