The Federal Communications Commission paid out more than $1 million in federal stimulus funds to a London company through a contract that reported creating no jobs in the U.S. or overseas, procurement records show.
The vendor, SamKnows Ltd., won the stimulus-funded contract to help the FCC collect data on broadband speeds of various Internet service providers (ISPs).
The company said in a statement when it started work with the FCC that a separate company, SamKnows Inc., would “appoint US partners and create new jobs for American workers, both in the short term and in the long term.”
Although FCC officials said the project was worthwhile and helped spur investment in broadband, contract activity reports filed through the Recovery Act website show that it didn’t create any jobs.
Under a section asking how many jobs had been created, officials noted “zero” after the project was completed.