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Last fall the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a $871,000 contract for grounds maintenance on the Knoxville VA campus despite bids from several local companies for more than half a million dollars less. After receiving complaints from concerned Iowans U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Eric Shinseki, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs requesting a briefing to better understand why.

Grassley says he was disappointed in the answers he received on the topic but unfortunately since the contract has already been signed it’s too late to do anything about it now. Instead, Grassley says he does plan to stay on top of the issue and make sure when the current contract expires the same mistake is not made again.