DC Metro Crash -- desi and outsourcing connections

Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 6:10 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2031 -- 6/24/2009 >>>>>

As most of you have probably heard by now, the DC Metro crash was possibly
caused by a computer failure. That news got me and a few others interested if
the DC Metro has been outsourcing work to India or bodyshops, and employing H-
1Bs. The reasoning behind the research is that when employers are looking for
the cheapest labor they often get what they pay for.

In the rest of this newsletter allow me to share with you a surprising number
of connections. They could be all coincidence at this point, and therefore
have nothing to do with the crash.

Several previous newsletters have been published concerning President Obama's
appointment of Aneesh Chopra for Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Vivek
Kundra for Chief Information Officer (CIO). Besides their obvious ethnic
similarities, keep in mind that Aneesh Chopra led a large junket to India in
2006 to promote the outsourcing of Virginia state jobs. Read the previous
newsletters on these two appointments to see how both of them have a long
record of promoting the outsourcing of American jobs to India.
Chopra and Kundra are definitely friends of India.

Please forgive the links below, which can be tedious to piece together.
It's just too late and I'm too tired to provide shortlinks, so you will have
to copy and paste them together if you want to go to the web pages.

The following information isn't in any particular order, and I think we should
all be careful about what conclusions are drawn. Too little is known about the
cause of the crash yet to blame any particular contractor so until more is
known all of this should be considered circumstantial evidence. That said as a
disclaimer, here is the stuff:

Primary contractor for the DC Metro is Optimal Solutions & Technologies (OST).
Here is a link to the actual contract:

OK, I lied! Here is one short link to the contract:
http://tiny.cc/ost

https://4683065323913652793-a-dc-gov-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/dc.gov/itsa-
contract/public-documents/DCTO-2008-R-0135_MContract.pdf?attredirects=1&auth
=ANoY7cr6_UYupZ2EaHhZ1RhjqwiVOOfwJaAWtAGUWmonmTd_huum9OMa_tn3jgWfFLQgFQm2Wli
riiO1cLwmx9llFnblYOzBZ7fT0-vxekN62saQNQfLt6nvl0dQmffzbi0qMNAJGX6SGBPFyHkj7IN
EOsHg20hxMlQcbQw4yWSAt1ylzdPFu0TnB6VkiX2zjtlX250XlnWDSH-YsFlBkydjmWJLGp8v3xJ
zcGAVDZIdr0BrmDG4wAM%3D

http://www.ostglobal.com/
OST web page

Vivek Kundra has many connections to OST. He was even on their board.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/05/AR2009040502036.html

But that wasn't the only reason Kundra put Optimal Solutions and
Technologies in charge of nearly 100 subcontractors eager for a
piece of as much as $75 million a year in technology contracts.

And what about the role of Optimal Solutions and Technologies, a
D.C.-based company founded in 1999 by Vijay Narula?

Though allegedly Acar and Bansal violated city rules by regularly
meeting and talking, Narula said his company, which has about eight
employees assigned full time to the contract, was powerless to
detect such behavior.

Remember Sushil Bansal? He was the one that was arrested and jailed, and was
the reason the FBI raided Kundra's office. Acar has been charged with bribery.

OST is heavily involved in our transportation infrastucture. They even have an
FAA Software Design and Development Services Contract. Vijay Narula is their
CEO. OST's contracts are some of the most important in the nation because they
involve public safety, and yet it's very difficult to find out where Narula
was born -- he is very much an enigma. Try finding his biography with Google,
and get back to me when you find out something.

http://www.ostglobal.com/content/news/faaaitswin.htm
FAA contract

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/11/prweb477999.htm
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Awards an Information Technology
Contract to Optimal Solutions and Technologies (OST, Inc.)

GRPA is another outsourcer that does business with the WMATA. They have
offices in India, and perhaps they send some work there.

http://www.grpa.com/services.htm

GRPA is a registered IT services provider to the state of Maryland,
various counties, and other organizations like Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the World Bank, and
several Credit Unions, etc.

GRPA is considered a minority owned business, which gives them a large
advantage over other companies that want to win state contracts. The company
name explains their minority status: G.R. Patel & Associates, Inc.

http://www.doit.state.md.us/itmc/mcDetails.aspx?mcID=185&smc=3
CATS Master Contract, Master Contractor Details, GRPA

Master Contractor Name: G.R. Patel & Associates, Inc. (GRPA)
Minority Business Enterprise: Yes
Name: G.R. Patel
Title: President

http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?parent_id=124364&detail=-1
Contracts to G.R. PATEL & ASSOCIATES, INC.
(FY 2000-2008)

If you want even more connections go here -- it's too complicated to
describe:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,22071120?hilite=kundra+optimal
FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee

Some of the high tech workers on the WMATA engineering and computer/IT system
have similar ethnic backgrounds. It is not known at this time what their visa
status is:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/gisarchitect

Anurag Mehta
Enterprise GIS Architect at WMATA (DC Metro)
Washington D.C. Metro Area

http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-user/1996-January/011282.html

thesis help !!!
Anurag Mehta mehtaag at ucunix.san.uc.EDU

http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committee-documents/aV5cV1Zf20090518134743.pdf

Anurag Mehta, amehta@wmata.com

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/pradip-roy/4/79b/a91

Pradip (Roy)
Sr Electrical Engineer at WMATA
Washington D.C. Metro Area

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=20152045&authToken=gUvi&aut
hType=name&trk=ape_f000001a

Naheed Monower
Deputy Chief, Operations and Maintenance at Washington Metropolitan Area

Transit Authority

Washington D.C. Metro Area

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/venkat-subramanian/0/76b/354 VENKAT
SUBRAMANIAN

Founder, President & CEO, ANGARAI Location
Washington D.C. Metro Area
Founder, President & CEO at Angarai Past
Managing Trustee at Angarai Foundation
Program Manager at WMATA
President & CEO at Angarai Technology Group, Inc.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=104972

Computer Failure Could Be Cause of DC Metro Crash Killing 9

2009-06-24 08:52:53

The operator of the DC Metro train that crashed into a stopped train in front
of it most likely activated the emergency brakes, the Washington Post reports.

A spokesperson of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is in charge
of the investigation said they were not fully certain if the operator used the
brakes, but the emergency brake button was depressed, and the steel rails
showed evidence that the brakes were engaged.

Investigators also say the trailing train was in automatic mode, which means
onboard computers should have controlled its speed and stopped it before it
got too close to the stopped train.

Metro sources further stated the first two cars of that train were two months
overdue for scheduled maintenance of some braking components.

According to the Post, the initial investigation lists four possible causes of
the deadly crash that killed nine and sent scores to DC hospitals: the
operator activated the brakes too late; the computers or the train's brakes
failed; or some combination of those. Some passengers on the trailing train
reported they never felt it slow down.

Service on the Red Line will continue to be disrupted while the investigation
proceeds.

The crash, the force of which sent the back train on top of the stopped one
occurred on a curve where trains travel at higher speeds.

Metro General Manager John Catoe said there was "no evidence" that the
operator was using a cell phone or sending a text message at the time of the
crash and "there's not a letter of evidence" to indicate operator error."

The six cars of the killer train were among the oldest in Metro's fleet,
purchased between 1974 and 1978. The Metrorail transit system kept the old
trains running despite warnings in 2006, the National Transportation Safety
Board says.

Metro officials insist replacing the cars would cost almost USD 1 B, money
that Metro does not have.

The NTSB also recommended that Metro install data recorders, similar to the
black boxes found in airplanes, in all of its cars after a collision between
two trains in 2004. Recorders were installed in some of its newest cars, but
older ones, such as those of the train causing the accident did not have them,
something NTSB deems "unacceptable."

The crash injured more than 70 people.

Metro officials said two men and seven women, all adults, were killed.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, who on Tuesday downgraded the death toll to seven,
confirmed later, at a news conference, that nine were killed, adding he hoped
the death toll did not climb any higher.

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