AXIOS (Brittany Gibson) - The contracting mess Noem's leaving behind at DHS
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is on track to leave dozens of pending contracts on her desk when she leaves office in three weeks, the legacy of a system she imposed to cut "waste, fraud and abuse," but that has stalled DHS programs. Why it matters: The backlog of contracts has left vendors waiting for payments and delayed projects such as President Trump 's push for mass deportations and the border wall, along with disaster relief under FEMA, Axios has learned. - "There's a mountain of backed-up contracts and invoices on her desk that the new guy will just have to deal with," a source familiar with the situation at DHS told Axios. - The backlog existed long before the partial government shutdown over DHS immigration policies…