Uncovers Thousands of Dollars of Waste in the U.S. Department of Education

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released the third edition to ‘The Waste Report,’ which is an ongoing project highlighting egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.

The third edition of the ‘The Waste Report’ exposes thousands of dollars of waste in the U.S. Department of Education. In the coming weeks, the U.S. Department of Education will offer a multi-day writing course designed to teach twenty of their employees how to write an e-mail in the workplace.

‘The Waste Report’ can be found HERE or below.

U.S. Department of Education – $240/Hour E-mail Class

It is on your computer, it is on your phone. From sharing recipes to writing serious communication; email has become a part of everyday life. In fact Jacob Morgan of Forbes declared in a 2013 article, “Everyone has an email account.”[1]

Perhaps this is why earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education (Dep. of Ed), of all federal agencies, awarded a contract (at about $240 per hour) for an “Email Writing Course” to be given to twenty of their employees (in two cohorts).[2][3]  According to the solicitation, participants should come away knowing things like, “when to write an email,” and the “[p]roper tone and etiquette,” of an email.[4] Keep in mind; these are not students, but federal workers at the Dep. of Ed’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

As pervasive as email is, one would expect this course to be a simple one or two hour “tune-up” on writing skills. Instead the Dep. of Ed, is asking for a two to three DAY course. Even some prospective venders were skeptical of the time requirement. In an addendum to the original solicitation, the Dep. of Ed. responded to vender questions, including one that rightly asked how many hours of training was expected for each session. The response was shocking, “The Department anticipates that these days will be full days of training.” Another asked if the two to three day requirement is meant to provide for both cohorts (which would be somewhat more reasonable). The response, “The requirement is for 2 separate offerings of a 2-day or 3-day course.”[5]

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