The Deadbeat Diaries

Excerpts from the dairies of a business owner detailing his 23-month attempt to get final payment from the government.

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Unedited excerpts from the diaries of one small-business owner detailing his 23-month attempt to get final payments on a contract with the federal government

A small-business owner finishes a project for the federal government--and spends the next 23 months trying to get paid in full. Allen W. Shatto, founder of A&L Shatto, is shuffled from the "procuring contract officer" (PCO), who puts out the bids; to the "administering contract officer" (ACO), who checks invoices against original contracts; to the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), which audits the numbers; to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), which makes the final payment. Along the way he's in touch with the White House, the SBA's head, a congressman, and fund-raisers for Newt Gingrich. Here are unedited excerpts from his diaries.

4 Months Since Contract Completion. Small Business Owed $185,714 in Final Payments.

03 Feb 95 Left message on PCO contract specialist M. Wilkins's voice mail.

06 Feb 95 PCO C. Comaty calls. He will have to research. He asks me to send facts. (I fax details same day.) He will get back to me Thursday, 09 FEB 95. He suggests I also talk to Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization representative J. Rasmussen.

09 Feb 95 No call from Comaty.

10 Feb 95 I call Comaty. No answer. I call Wilkins and leave message on voice mail.

13 Feb 95 I call Comaty. No answer. I call Wilkins and leave voice mail. I call Rasmussen. No answer. I call Rasmussen later. Line busy.

14 Feb 95 I call Comaty. He will write letter to ACO recommending release. He commits to getting the letter out this week (by 17 FEB 95) and sending me a copy. I left message on Rasmussen's voice mail. I call ACO contract specialist Cheryl Thompson. She is no longer there. The contract has been transferred to Linda Hirsch. I ask to speak to Hirsch. She says Comaty should address letter to her. I call Comaty and leave Hirsch's address and phone number.

22 Feb 95 No letter is received. I call Comaty. No answer. I call Wilkins. He didn't write letter, so he has no knowledge on status. I call Rasmussen. Line busy. I call Rasmussen later. No answer. I call Hirsch to see if she has received a letter. She has not, but did have a phone call from someone at Aberdeen (the Army base that awarded the contract). She tells me she was wrong. She is not the ACO. So she told the person who called to address the letter to Gene Johnson. I ask to transfer to Johnson. He hasn't heard anything about this. I brief him. He will try to reach Comaty/Wilkins. I fax copies of the events to date to the PCO (Comaty), PCO's branch chief (R. Baker), and PCO director (J. Warrington). I get a call back from Baker. He will look into it and call me back. (No call.)

7 Months Since Contract Completion. Small Business Owed $185,714 in Final Payments.

26 Apr 95 I receive letter from Baker dated April 24, indicating he was told there was a meeting scheduled April 26 (the day the letter was received) between me, the Defense Contract Management Area Office (DCMAO), and DCAA to "resolve some areas of concern." No one on my staff knows anything about a meeting.

27 Apr 95 I call Baker to determine source of information on the meeting so I can follow up. He is not in. I begin to leave a message with secretary. He returns but says he's on his way to a meeting and will call back. (No call.) I fax a copy of letter to Johnson for him to read. I call Johnson. Line busy. I call Johnson later. No answer. I call Johnson at 2:45, and he is in but leaving for the day at 3:30. He says he read the letter and he never heard about a meeting either. He tries to call Wilkins while I'm on the line. The secretary tries to find Wilkins and return call. By 3:30 Johnson calls me back but has not heard from Wilkins, so he will try again "first thing in the morning" and call me back. I fax an update to Baker (PCO's branch chief) that the ACO never heard of the meeting in Baker's letter either. I suggest that I meet him in his office with Comaty (PCO) and Wilkins (PCO contract specialist) and we call Johnson (ACO) so that everyone can hear what's going on at the same time.

13 Months Since Contract Completion. Small Business Owed $185,714 in Final Payments.

06 Nov 95 First Commercial Bank tells us DFAS had erroneously electronically transferred our payment on three invoices to them despite our having checked and double-checked with DFAS to make sure payments would go to our account at NationsBank. First Commercial Bank rejected the invoices and returned them to DFAS.

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