Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security

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U.S. Financial Involvement in the U.N. HQ Renovation


July 21, 2005


The United Nations will likely get a $1.2 Billion loan from the U.S. on a building renovation that experts say should cost half that price. The renovation price tag is about $460/sq.ft., even though NEW, high-end buildings can be built in Manhattan for half that cost. The loan is such that the U.S. would be making payments to itself with interest, through its UN dues, at a cost of about $500m.

Is this the best time for the U.N. to pass the collection plate around America asking the taxpayers to once again open their wallets for what looks, to many, like a corruption-riddled bureaucracy? The hearing was called to examine that price-tag and determine if the loan would meet the standards this Subcommittee demands of all Federal expenditures: Accountability, Transparency, Fair and Open Competition, Spending Discipline, and Priority-setting.


UPDATE (05/08/06): Senators Coburn, Sessions and Inhofe Express Concern About Cost of UN Renovation Plan; Letter to Secretary of State Calls For Transparency in the United Nations’ Scandal-Ridden Procurement System





Major Findings:

• The UN renovation project is one more example of UN spending out of control.
• The UN’s purported $1.2 billion renovation price tag was challenged by world renowned developer, Donald Trump, as overly costly and inconsistent with fair market construction costs.
• The UN procurement officer in charge of contracting the architecture design firm had to resign the UN due to allegations of impropriety. It was the work of the architecture design firm (contracted and overseen by this UN officer) that calculated the $1.2 billion figure cost assessment.
• Fifty percent of the $1.2 billion figure includes the costs of padding for “contingencies.”
• The U.S. Department of State put forth a 30-yr loan offer that would cost American taxpayers $560 million. (In addition to providing the UN with the $1.2 billion loan, the U.S., as a paying due member to the UN, would also be required to pay a percentage of the loan it provides to the UN. This figure totals $560 million over 30 years.)
• A Luntz poll (July 2005) showed that 69% of Americans opposed the U.S. offering this loan.

These Findings Demand a Response:

• The UN must disclose documentation to justify costs assessments associated with the UN renovation project.
• The U.N. must incorporate principles of transparency and accountability to ensure that every dollar spent toward the UN renovation project is accounted and justified for.
• The U.N. must ensure that taxpayer’s money is not frivolously spent on unnecessary costs and prevent the UN funding project from being twice the costs of fair market real estate costs as being purported.
• As stated by Senator Jeff Sessions: The United Nations is supposed to help countries in need of poverty assistance, drought relief and disease management. Every dollar that is wasted within the U.N. is taken away from an important cause. We need to look into this project to ensure that our money is providing the greatest possible benefit in a world that has great needs.

Related Resources:

Panel 1 Testimony:



Panel 2 Testimony:



Panel 3 Testimony:



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July 2005 Hearings




Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security

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