U.S. Delegation to Mandela Funeral: Five Hotels, Transportation Cost $19M

    Documents recently released by the government show that the value of hotels and local transportation contracts for the U.S. delegation to Nelson Mandela's funeral in December were considerably higher than previous estimates.  On December 19, THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported the cost at about $11 million. However, rather than two hotels and one vehicle contractor, additional contracts have been disclosed bringing the total to five hotels and two vehicle contractors.
    The transportation contracts include passenger vehicles, SUVs, vans, buses, pickup trucks, box trucks, and "larger capacity vehicles," but do not include the cost of travelling from the U.S. to South Africa and back.  The combined total estimated cost of the two contracts is $12,521,851.
     The five hotel contracts estimated a total of 10,275 "lodging room nights" spanning December 6, 2013 to January 20, 2014.  The Johannesburg-area hotels include the Radison Blu Sandton, Radison Gautrain, Holiday Inn, Park Inn, and the Michaelangelo.  A sixth contract for the DaVinci hotel was subsequently canceled.  The total estimated cost of the remaining contracts is $6,489,627.  Adding the $12.5 million in transportation contracts brings the grand total for lodging and local transportation to $19,011,478.
   When asked for an explanation of the 6-week date range of December 6 to January 20 for the hotels, a State Department official replied via email:

Due to high demand during that time period, all hotels in the area had a requirement to book for a minimum of 15 nights.   The date span was written into the contract to give flexibility, but we did not pay for 45 days.

    When asked to explain why 45 days was written into the estimates when only a 15 day minimum was required, the official did not respond, nor was there any response to a follow up inquiry about how accurate the cost estimates turned out to be.


Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

VIP Hotel and Vehicles for Mandela Funeral Trip More Than $11M

    State Department contract awards were posted this week for "Transportation services in support of Mandela Funeral" and "Accommodation in support of the Nelson Mandela funeral in South Africa."  The accompanying Justification and Approval documents estimated the cost of transportation at a maximum of $8,286,194.74.  The transportation contract covers only ground transportation in South Africa.  Costs for Air Force One and other air travel are not included.  Two contracts were listed for the cost of lodging: one for $2,042,850 for an estimated "3,240 lodging room nights" and another for $1,190,573 for an estimated "2,490 lodging room nights" stretching from December 6, 2013 to January 20, 2014.
    It is unclear from the documents if the lodging and transportation contracts covered just the president and his support staff, or if it included President Bush, Hillary Clinton, and other current and former government officials.  The transportation contract included passenger vehicles, SUVs, vans, buses, pickup trucks, box trucks, and "larger capacity vehicles":

    One lodging contract was for the Radisson Gautrain:

    The second hotel contract was for the Michelangelo Hotel:

    As is typical of such contracts, they were not open to competition due to security concerns.  Obviously, the short notice of the funeral arrangements complicated efforts even further.  Perhaps as a result of the urgency, a third hotel contract with an estimated cost of $1,110,980 was also posted on the same site for the same trip for the Da Vinci hotel:

    However, within two hours of the posting of that contract, the notice was updated with "cancellation notice - posted in error".

    According to The New York Daily News, the president was on the ground in South Africa for less than 13 hours, arriving and departing the same day, Tuesday, December 10.

    When asked about the contract, a State Dept. spokesperson referred questions regarding the President’s travel/arrangements to the White House press office. The White House press office has not yet responded to an inquiry about the contract and related travel arrangements.

Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

The Author of The Color Purple Sees Red

    The Israel-Palestinian conflict has a long history of provoking irrationality among those who side with the Palestinians.  Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, a novel popularized in part by the Oprah Winfrey movie of the same name in the 1980s, has continued the tradition.  MyFoxNY.com reports:

Author Alice Walker has denied a request from an Israeli publisher to release a Hebrew edition of her novel, "The Color Purple."
The book details the struggle of black women in the South in the 1930s.
In a letter to Yediot Books she said it was because Israel is "guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people."
She says she grew up under "American apartheid" and says Israeli's treatment of Palestinians is worse than blacks in South Africa.

    Given that the “book details the struggle of black women in the South in the 1930s” and Walker "grew up under 'American apartheid'," it’s a wonder that she ever consented to have her book published in English.