DOT Shuts Down GMATS! BREAKING NEWS

[QUOTE=KPEngineer;58993]… in this case where the memo is being misread.[/QUOTE]

What part of the memo is being “misread?”

The USMMA Alumni Association states in no uncertain terms that “… the program will be terminated as a Non-Appropriated Funded Instrumentality (NAFI) as of July 2012.” and “These changes, which will manage the wind down of GMATS, are effective December 7th.”

A MARAD spokesman, quoted in a [I]Maritime Professional[/I] editorial by Joseph Keefe stated "… in response to specific recommendations from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Academy is taking steps to wind down the Global Maritime and Transportation School (GMATS) and determine the Academy’s role in continuing education.”

The Alumni Association is making noises about continuing the program as a 501c3 organization but, in my opinion at least, that is equivalent to the standard statement to the press made by every foundering organization that claims to be negotiating with its creditors or the prosecuting attorney. It is a means of saving face while the institution crumbles around them. Describing the closing of GMATS as the “termination of a NAFI” is a clever bit of speech writing probably intended to lead true believers into thinking that it is not really going away, and is just a minor change in how the bank accounts are handled.

[QUOTE=KPEngineer;58993]The government just doesn’t move that fast.[/QUOTE]

As this latest issue illustrates, it moves like Forrest Gump when a scandal is biting its ass.

One wonders if the GMATS issue is a very convenient red herring. Perhaps the alumni believe the stink of rotting fish will cover the scent of a Penn State style scandal.

[QUOTE=Steamer;58889]Let’s hope that closing GMATS is the first step in shutting down KP and selling off the real estate.[/QUOTE]

KP can never be closed after the mountain of money that has been “invested” into improving the facility! Oh wait, most of that money disappeared into a vast sinkhole of corruption and fraud. Everytime Congress shovels another $20M into supposed “facilties improvements” it gives itself a bigger reason that they have to keep shovelling.

The school can never be closed because all of that wasted money will have been wasted!

Violations of the law identified circa 2008/09 pertaining to NAFIs and GMATS at USMMA:

– Bypassing the civil service system by employing staff through the academy’s Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentalities (NAFIs) to conduct official academy business.

– Bypassing competition requirements by entering into invalid reimbursable agreements in order to transmit revenue to the Global Maritime and Transportation School (GMATS), one of the academy’s NAFIs.

– Circumventing federal procurement regulations.

– Siphoning money from the direct appropriation for the academy’s instructional program and using it for other academy functions.

http://professionalmariner.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=Archives&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=E7967F7BC7D8450283865180B6B45B1F

One day every USMMA alum (maybe especially the men at the Association/Foundation) will understand why a public entity’s income and expenses are not to be mixed with a private entity’s income and expenses.

Hold on here…are you blaming GMATS for its getting closed?

GMATS was sacrified by MarAd and the USMMA Administration to placate Congress. The fraud and corruption go far deeper into that cesspool of special interests in protecting the miriad personal fiefdoms that exist at that “Gem” of an academy.

According to this GAO report’s conclusion it so very succinctly and accurately stated

The problems we identified concerning improper or questionable sources
and uses of funds involving the Academy and its affiliated organizations,
including the known and possible violations of the ADA [Antideficiency
Act] described in this report, undermines the Academy’s ability to carry out its basic
stewardship responsibilities and to comply with the ADA and other legal
and regulatory requirements, and may also impair its ability to efficiently
achieve its primary mission—to educate midshipmen. These problems can
be attributed to a weak overall control environment and the flawed design
and implementation of internal controls. Revelations of such activities call
into question the stewardship responsibilities of the Academy and signal
failures of oversight and governance responsibilities. Moreover, such activities
reflect unmitigated risks posed by the Academy’s close
organizational and transactional relationships with its NAFIs, including the
lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities. If such improper and
questionable activities are not prevented or detected in a timely manner,
they may adversely impact the Academy’s credibility

As far as I am concerned the school’s credibility of below negative and the fact that persons who were in high level positions of responsibility with the administration there at the time this fraud took place were not only not fired but not prosecuted is astounding. Was anybody cashiered over this report? The answer is NO they were’nt and the stink in those hallowed halls is fouler than ever as a result. That smell certainly isn’t going away with closing GMATS but the folks at MarAd and KP who are desperate to keep their comfortable federal jobs with pensions are hoping we’ll be fooled by the cheap air freshener their attempting to cover it over with.

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What in hell is really going-on here? c.captain, I sent you a private email, hope you received it. I knew about the shut-down of GMATS, oh, about two weeks ago, trying to get to the bottom of it all is like trying to fuck a butter ball. I’m going to bed, catch’ya in the morning. I’m not a happy camper.