“A Contractor, Charity And Magnet for Federal Earmarks”
More on Murtha,
Concurrent Technologies began two decades ago doing metalworking research in Pennsylvania’s struggling rust belt. In the years since, the Johnstown, Pa., company has become a federal contracting chameleon.
It is an intelligence adviser, an environmental consultant and a software engineering specialist. It has trained mine-detecting dogs and managed religion-based initiatives. It oversees construction projects, organizes conferences and studies ways to use hydrogen for fuel in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Missile-defense research is part of its portfolio. So is the development of special armor for combat vehicles in Iraq and “solid waste technology” in Florida.
And it is a nonprofit charity.
Behind the rise of Concurrent is Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee, who helped arrange funding to launch the organization in 1988. Murtha has since arranged millions of dollars more in directed congressional appropriations called earmarks.
The party of ethics working for you!
— The Ace