DHS corrects contractor miscount
How many are there, really?
- By Washington Technology staff
- Apr 13, 2011
The Virginia-based consulting firm LMI may need to brush up on its adding skills after it misrepresented the amount of contractors at the Homeland Security Department by about 100,000, reports the Federal Times blog Fedline.
DHS hosts about 110,000 contractors, not the original 210,000 figure given by LMI, itself a DHS contractor.
According to the Fedline blog, the firm blamed the miscalculation on a faulty algorithm it used and Congress was notified about the problem in January.
"Like a lot of reporters, I can’t claim arithmetic as one of my stronger skill sets," wrote Sean O'Reilly in reporting the gaffe. "But I feel a bit better about my math chops after reading that the Department of Homeland Security recently had to correct a six-figure goof related to the number of DHS contract employees."