OGILVY DRUG OFFICE WIN ROUSES LEGISLATORS

Congressman Demands Documents; Other Scrutiny Expected

WASHINGTON -- The surprise award of the White House drug office advertising
contract to WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide -- the same agency that
paid out $1.8 million to settle allegations that it overbilled the
government -- is starting to draw congressional attention.

On a day the full House Appropriations Committee approved legislation that
would cut the government's overall spending on the anti-drug media campaign
by $10 million to $170 million -- but require $150 million of that to be
devoted to media buys -- the chairman of another House panel was writing
the U.S. Navy asking for documents relating to the contract award.

Documents Sought

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of a House Government Reform panel is
writing the U.S. Navy, which handled the contracting process, today is
asking for papers explaining the award of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy account to Ogilvy, and aide for the
congressman said.

The letter asks the Navy to provide the committee with copies of all five
bid proposals, information utilized to evaluate the proposal, scores on
each proposal, information submitted by the drug office on bidders past
performance and any memos or other documents outlining the Navy's
recommendations. wants "a thorough review of the process" but has not at
this time made any decision to challenge the review.

A drug office spokesman last week told Advertising Age that Ogilvy, which
settled for $1.8 million accusations that it overbilled the government on
the account, had altered its billing practices to comply with government
billing standards.

"It is important to keep in mind that Ogilvy did respond to the criticism
and changed their practices, and did comply with all the recommendations in
the [General Accounting Office] report," said Tom Riley, the office's
public affairs director. "Since Ogilvy was not debarred, it would have been
illegal for us to have excluded them from the competition. The Navy made
the evaluation."

The contract is also expected to be discussed Thursday when a Senate panel
meets to mark up an appropriations bill that funds the anti-drug ad
campaign. The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Byron
Dorgan, D-N.D., has been critical of the drug office for keeping Ogilvy.

Late Decision

The award to Ogilvy came late July 3 on the eve of a holiday weekend when
congressional officials already were out of Washington. Ogilvy won a
one-year contract that can be renewed annually for up to four more years.
Ogilvy will do strategic research and media planning, with sibling
Mindshare doing the complicated media buying that is required for the
account. Media companies have to match each paid ad with a free ad.

Creative for the campaign comes from the Partnership for Drug Free America.

The award to Ogilvy also comes as the drug office faces a congressional
battle over its budget and the ad contract because of a recent report
suggesting the campaign has not been effective at targeting youth.