Comer Calls on HHS to Hold Contractors Accountable for Unauthorized Release of Biased Alcohol Study Data
Requests review of potential contract violations and whether certain contractors should be barred from receiving federal contracts
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing the Committee’s investigation into the Biden Administration’s efforts to influence alcohol consumption recommendations in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Chairman Comer raises concerns that Synergy Enterprises, Inc. and members of a scientific review panel violated their federal contracts by publishing government-owned information and data from a biased alcohol health study without authorization. Chairman Comer calls on HHS to review Synergy’s conduct and pursue appropriate remedial, disciplinary, contractual, or legal action, including potential debarment from future federal contracts.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is continuing its investigation into the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) activities in the development of alcohol consumption guidelines for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Dietary Guidelines). Specifically, the Committee is investigating a study on alcohol intake and health (AIH study) commissioned under the Biden Administration by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD), convened by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) within HHS. SAMSHA contracted with Synergy Enterprises, Inc. (Synergy) to complete the AIH study. Synergy then entered into a series of consulting agreements with subcontractors to serve on a Scientific Review Panel (SRP) to conduct the AIH study. Based on the Committee’s review, by publishing data and information gained from the AIH study without authorization, it appears that Synergy and the SRP members violated their contract obligations with the federal government. The Committee requests a staff-level briefing and that HHS review the actions of Synergy Enterprises, Inc. and the individual SRP members and take any appropriate remedial, disciplinary, contractual, or legal action in response, including but not limited to debarment of the prime contractor and the subcontractors,” wrote Chairman Comer.
In January 2026, the House Oversight Committee released a report detailing how the Biden Administration intended for the study to reach a predetermined conclusion and recruited scientists it was sure would develop research to support that conclusion. The Trump Administration declined to finalize and publish the ICCPUD study because of concerns about its flawed and biased process. However, SRP members and other authors published without authorization information and data obtained through their federally contracted work in outside scientific journals in November 2025 and June 2026 with the intention to pressure the federal government to revise the Dietary Guidelines based on the flawed findings.
“After reviewing Synergy’s contract with SAMSHA and the subcontracting agreements between Synergy and the individual SRP members, it appears that both Synergy and the SRP members violated their agreements with the federal government by publishing AIH study information and data without authorization. Not only was the AIH study biased and predetermined, but it was also wastefully duplicative of a study already being conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) at the direction of Congress. SAMSHA’s contract with Synergy clearly specifies that all information and data derived from the work done under the AIH study is government property. The subcontractors also knew that all information and data derived for their work on the AIH study was federal government property. The inclusion of explicit contract terms requiring Synergy and the subcontractors to acknowledge that all information and data developed under the AIH study was government property indicates that both Synergy and the SRP members knew that all information and data derived from their work on the AIH study was federal government property and they nonetheless chose to publish it,” continued Chairman Comer.
Read the letter to HHS here.