An official from the Iowa state agency under fire for confidential settlements that included “hush money” for laid off workers says the agency’s new system for managing state government construction projects has saved nearly 10-million dollars over the past 32 months. Lon Anderson, the chief deputy director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, makes that calculation, in part, by estimating 15 percent savings in construction because general contractors are no longer allowed to manage state government projects. Construction is monitored by three state employees and six different private companies instead.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, sees flaws in the overall savings estimate.

Another agency manager also confirmed some of the settlement money paid to the laid-off workers may have come from the federal government. Doug Woodley says that’s because other state agencies, which operate with both state and federal funds, are required to pay an annual management fee to the Department of Administrative Services and the agency doesn’t track the source of those payments. Democrats say that’s a problem and the state could be forced to repay any federal funds that might have been used.