In a message dated 10/1/00 7:18:02 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The scripts were submitted as part of a deal under which TV networks received
millions of dollars worth of financial credits for including positive
anti-drug messages in their shows.
http://www.foxnews.com/elections/093000/ogilvymather.sml
White House Plays Hardball
In Ad Payment Dispute
Saturday, September 30, 2000
NEW YORK — The White House is withholding millions of dollars in payments to
a major advertising firm after allegations that the firm may have overbilled
the government for its work on a media campaign, The New York Times reported
Saturday.
The White House drug-policy office, which oversees the media campaign aimed
at discouraging young people from using drugs, has held back about $13.5
million in payments on $187 million that has been billed by the firm, Ogilvy
Mather, according to officials cited by the newspaper.
A consultant hired by the White House to assess the charges found that
Ogilvy's costs, particularly for labor, were "dramatically higher than even
the high end of what is standard industry practice," according to an internal
government memorandum cited by The Times.
Officials of the White House agency, the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said there was no evidence that the company had engaged in fraud, the
newspaper said.
Howard G. Paster, a spokesman for Ogilvy, said it was routine for bills to be
negotiated. He said the company expected to be paid for its work and did not
expect a significant reduction in billing.
The General Accounting Office began an inquiry into the contract in July,
Robert H. Hass, the director of the office, told The Times. Hass said the
agency has begun a full financial audit of the contract.
Ogilvy is the primary government contractor in an anti-drug advertising and
education effort called the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. The
campaign, which began in 1998, is expected to cost nearly $1 billion over
five years.
The campaign was criticized earlier this year, when it became known that
popular television shows were submitting their scripts to the White House
drug office.
The scripts were submitted as part of a deal under which TV networks received
millions of dollars worth of financial credits for including positive
anti-drug messages in their shows.