 |
The Health and Human Services Administration slates a review of subcontracting deals flowing from Porter Novelli’s $2.25M contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Politico reported March 29 that money from the PR contract went to Republican consultants to burnish the image of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma.
Pam Stevens, a media adviser coached Verma; Marcus Barlow wrote speeches and devised strategy, while Nahigan Strategies’s staffers traveled with the administrator and helped orchestrate announcements, according to Politico.
Four members of the Democratic House and Senate leadership asked for an investigation of the contracts.
HHS notified relevant congressional committees on April 3 that the contracts are suspended pending the review and audit by the inspector general.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
