Ad Firm May Have Gouged ONDCP for Media Campaign October 2, 2000
News Summary
The White House is looking into whether a major advertising firm overbilled the government for work on the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, the Associated Press reported Sept. 30.The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy is withholding $13.5 million in payments on $187 million that has been billed by the firm Ogilvy & Mather. The government contends that the advertising firm's costs, particularly for labor, were "dramatically higher than even the high end of what is standard industry practice."
But Howard G. Paster, a spokesman for Ogilvy, said it was routine for bills to be negotiated.
The advertising and education campaign, aimed at discouraging youth from using drugs, began in 1998 and is expected to cost about $1 billion over five years.
Robert H. Hass, director of the General Accounting Office, said a full financial audit of the government's contract with the advertising firm has begun.
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