An audit showed that the company submitted questionable expense reports and did not comply with terms of the $345,000 deal, Fort Bend officials said.
A registered nurse administers a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Sugar Land.A political consulting firm with Democratic ties hired for a COVID outreach contract in Fort Bend County might have to repay the county about $25,000 after an audit found the company submitted questionable expenses and did not comply with terms of the $345,000 deal.
While Next Wave Strategies was hired to spread awareness on the COVID vaccine, only about 75 percent of the work they billed could be substantiated, the audit says.Timesheets submitted in July of 2021 include billing for hours worked by Dennis and Johnson in December 2021, for example. Dennis and Johnson submitted identical timesheets claiming the exact same hours. The pair claimed 867 hours each at $59.36 per hour for total of $102,839.25.
Next Wave Strategies also billed for meetings that never occurred or that were shorter than the hours recorded, the audit reports. "Dr. Minter confirmed that the list consisted of influencers and champions that were already identified by the Fort Bend County Mobile Health Team Lead. In addition, all of the 'influencers' on the list were engaged prior to the contract with NWS," the audit said."The county wanted NWS to provide it with new collaborators."Johnson co-founded the firm in 2019, but is no longer working there as of August, according to her LinkedIn page.
A spokesman for George said he would not comment on Friday about the audit. DeMerchant’s office declined to comment on the audit. Grady could not be reached for comment.