A new analysis of the renovations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) headquarters in Washington, D.C., found a 25 percent spike in cost overruns.
According to a Daily Caller News Foundation report, the original cost estimates for the renovation was $55 million, but the agency under Richard Cordray’s leadership sought $216 million in renovations in 2014, which was rejected by the Federal Reserve’s Inspector General. The project was removed from the CFPB’s control and transferred to the General Services Administration (GSA), but even under GSA supervision to budget ballooned to more than $124 million. Among the more lavish aspects of the headquarters renovations were sunken garden areas, male and female fitness rooms, credenzas with quartz surfaces; $88,000 was spend on bicycle racks and parking striping in the CFPB garage; one luxury, a proposed $1.1 million children’s playground on the building’s roof was rejected. As a result, the $124 million figure equals roughly $416 per square foot in
“Some of the obvious questions I asked myself when walking into the renovated bureau headquarters on my first day as Acting Director were: Who initially authorized these renovations, were they absolutely necessary, and were adequate cost controls in place?” he said. “As I begin to focus on the Bureau’s budgeRep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, bcongressional oversight.
“Unfortunately, reports of massive cost overruns at the CFPB surprises no one,” said Rep. Duffy. “This unaccountable agency’s lavish spending is a prime example of how unelected bureaucrats in the swamp will spend money without common sense congressional oversight.”
