Last week city contracts with GW’s School of Public Health and Health Services became the cause of controversy between two D.C. Council members.

In a press conference Thursday, Council member Marion Barry accused Council member David A. Catania of going around city laws to get funding for GW, The Washington Examiner reported.

“This is not about George Washington University,” Barry said in the Examiner. “It’s about Mr. David Catania and his inappropriate actions.”

Barry argued that the contract between GW and the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance should have been open to other bidders. This is the fifth year the contract, backed by Catania as chairman of the Health Committee, has been awarded to GW. Funding over the years totals over $10 million with the money going towards work on city programs for the uninsured, according to The Washington Post.

The Examiner reported that the funds to GW in the 2010 fiscal year were part of a “sole-source” contract, which is not open to other bids. Until last year, the contract was funded by an earmark.

During Thursday’s press conference Barry called GW’s contract “nothing more or less than an earmark masquerading as a sole-source contract.”

The council member from Ward 8 is requesting that the inspector general’s office and D.C. auditor investigate Catania’s role in getting the contracts for the University, the Post reported Friday.

A spokesman for Catania told the Post that the accusations were “ridiculous,” and said Barry was trying “to deflect attention from his recent behavior.”

Barry faced criticism in February over an ethics report that revealed he had misused thousands of dollars of contracts for himself, a girlfriend and friends.

Last month the council voted to censure Barry, taking away his committee chairmanship. Corruption allegations were referred to the U.S. attorney’s office.

As of Sunday, University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard had not responded to a request for comment.