SHOCKER: Revolving door lets USAID officials get jobs with major N.C. contractor.

A North Carolina nonprofit awarded billions of tax dollars over the years by the U.S. Agency for International Development keeps a revolving door swinging for former government officials while spending heavily to lobby Congress to keep the federal money pouring into its corporate treasury.

RTI International’s development work has been criticized in a litany of inspector general reports over the past decade, but the Raleigh-based organization continues getting high-profile USAID contracts and hiring former top officials from USAID.

Nearly $208 million was awarded to RTI by USAID just in 2012, so it’s no surprise that federal funding has accounted for more than three quarters of the nonprofit’s revenue between 2009 and 2011, according to financial disclosure documents.

The nonprofit spent $377,825 on lobbying in 2012, according to its tax filings, relying heavily on Cornerstone Government Affairs for lobbying services in Washington. RTI paid Cornerstone $240,000 in 2012, putting the nonprofit among Fortune 500 firms that are also Cornerstone clients, including Microsoft, Boeing and GlaxoSmithKline.
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Despite the nonprofit’s near-complete failure to comply with contract regulations requiring officials to turn over regular progress and expenditure reports, USAID handed RTI three consecutive contracts between 2003 and 2011, totaling more than $400 million dollars.

“There’s obviously a lack of oversight in administration of the funds USAID is awarding,” Scott Amey, general counsel of the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, told the Washington Examiner.

That may be a result of the fact that former USAID officials populate the ranks of RTI, with some running programs for the nonprofit that they oversaw at the agency. The issue raises questions about the agency’s impartiality when it comes to procurement.

Yet another argument for my revolving-door surtax!