The
D.C.
HIV/AIDS
Administration
awarded
AIDS-related
contracts
to
at
least
two
community-based
organizations
that
operated
out
of
empty
offices
and
did
not
appear
to
be
providing
any
of
the
services
for
which
they
were
paid,
according
to
an
audit
conducted
by
the
D.C.
Inspector
General’s
Office.
The
office
managers
in
charge
of
another
two
organizations
funded
by
HAA
contracts
were
unsure
or
unaware
of
whether
their
respective
groups
provided
services
to
people
with
HIV
or
AIDS,
the
Inspector
General’s
audit
found,
creating
doubts
about
whether
the
groups
were
carrying
out
the
terms
of
their
contracts.
According
to
the
audit,
which
reviewed
HAA’s
operations
between
2002
through
2004,
the
sites
for
another
three
organizations
with
HAA
contracts
were
“inaccessible”
to
the
public
or
clients
in
need
of
AIDS-related
services.
And
six
more
service-providing
organizations
funded
by
HAA
were
not
operating
at
the
address
listed
for
them
on
their
contract
agreements,
even
though
the
incorrect
addresses
were
“verified”
by
HAA
grant
monitors
who
were
supposed
to
have
made
on-site
visits.
Officials
with
the
Inspector
General’s
Office
disclosed
these
and
other
problems
associated
with
HAA’s
management
of
AIDS
service
providers
during
a
hearing
on
March
17
conducted
by
the
D.C.
Council’s
Committee
on
Health.
Gay
D.C.
Councilmember
David
Catania
(I-At-Large),
who
chairs
the
committee,
said
he
directed
three
officials
from
the
Inspector
General’s
Office
who
testified
before
the
committee
to
withhold
the
identities
of
the
AIDS
service
organizations
described
in
the
audit.
Catania
said
he
wanted
to
give
HAA
officials
time
to
review
the
audit
before
the
providers
in
question
are
named.
Lydia
Watts,
an
assistant
director
of
the
D.C.
Department
of
Health
in
charge
of
HAA,
and
Dr.
Gregg
Payne,
director
of
the
Department
of
Health,
testified
during
the
hearing
and
were
present
during
the
testimony
of
the
Inspector
General
officials.
Catania
urged
the
two
to
take
action
to
correct
the
problems
identified
in
the
audit.
“I
think
you
need
to
be
informed,
as
does
the
community,
that
we’re
paying
for
services
and
this
is
kind
of
the
quality
we’re
getting,”
Catania
told
Watts.
The
hearing
took
place
three
days
after
Payne
took
the
unusual
step
of
meeting
with
representatives
of
all
of
the
HAA-funded
providers
in
a
session
in
which
Watts
and
all
other
HAA
officials
were
barred
from
attending.
“The
purpose
of
having
a
providers-only
meeting
was
to
create
a
forum
for
open
discussion,”
said
DOH
spokesperson
Leila
Abrar.
AIDS
activists
have
said
many
providers
have
been
reluctant
to
speak
out
about
their
concerns
about
HAA
out
of
fear
that
HAA
would
reduce
or
eliminate
their
funding.
William
J.
Divello,
assistant
inspector
general
for
audits
for
the
Inspector
General’s
Office,
testified
that
the
HAA
audit
was
not
yet
complete,
although
he
said
“a
substantial
amount
of
audit
work
has
been
performed.”
He
said
his
office
agreed
to
release
to
the
committee
the
information
uncovered
by
the
audit
at
Catania’s
request.
Catania
said
he
needed
the
information
to
help
frame
questions
for
HAA
witnesses
at
the
hearing,
which
he
said
is
aimed
at
helping
HAA
correct
longstanding
problems
at
the
AIDS
agency.
Council
members
Jack
Evans
(D-Ward
2),
Jim
Graham
(D-Ward
1),
and
Vincent
Gray
(D-Ward
7)
joined
Catania
in
questioning
witnesses
during
the
hearing.
As
he
stated
in
a
March
3
hearing,
in
which
the
committee
began
its
oversight
review
of
HAA,
Catania
pointed
out
that
much
of
the
problems
associated
with
HAA
began
long
before
Watts
started
in
her
HAA
director’s
post
last
September.
But
Catania
and
the
other
Council
members
reiterated
the
criticism
they
leveled
at
Watts
during
the
March
3
hearing
over
her
decision
to
spend
$450,000
to
produce
and
videotape
a
World
AIDS
Day
town
hall
meeting
and
cocktail
party-reception.
Watts
has
defended
that
decision,
saying
the
expenditure
included
the
production
of
several
videos
that
would
be
used
to
educate
women
on
how
to
avoid
becoming
infected
with
HIV.
Graham
told
Watts
he
was
troubled
that
the
$450,000
expenditure
on
World
AIDS
Day
events
came
at
the
same
time
HAA
made
about
$400,000
in
cuts
for
AIDS
prevention
programs
that,
among
other
things,
targeted
black
and
white
gay
men
and
transgendered
persons.
Divello
of
the
Inspector
General’s
Office
testified
that
problems
associated
with
the
AIDS
service
providers,
which
he
referred
to
as
“subgrantees,”
appear
to
be
linked
to
HAA’s
failure
to
provide
adequate
supervision
and
on-site
visits
to
the
providers
in
question.
“Our
review
found
that
none
of
the
35
subgrantees
had
been
provided
the
four
required
yearly
site
visits,”
he
told
the
committee.
“Site
visits
are
performed
to
determine
if
the
subgrantees
are
achieving
their
goals
and
deliverables
outlined
in
the
grant
agreement,”
he
said.
He
said
the
audit
found
that
the
11
grant
monitors
on
HAA’s
payroll
“had
more
than
adequate
time
available
in
the
work
year
to
conduct
all
required
site
visits.”
“We
conducted
a
telephone
survey
of
55
subgrantees,”
Divello
said.
“The
results
of
our
survey
revealed
that
13
subgrantees
could
not
be
contacted
via
telephone.”
This
prompted
him
to
direct
members
of
his
staff
to
conduct
on-site
visits
to
the
providers
while
they
posed
as
citizens
seeking
HIV-related
services
or
information
about
the
services.
LaDonia
Wilkins,
one
of
the
Inspector
General
staff
members
who
visited
the
providers’
offices,
said
at
least
two
of
the
providers’
offices
did
not
appear
to
be
doing
anything
related
to
AIDS
work
or
public
health.
“We
found
that
there
were
no
pamphlets
or
literature
pertaining
...
