In the rush to award a $20 million contract for identity-theft protection services in the wake of a massive data breach, Office of Personnel Management contracting staff violated federal contracting rules, lost track of paperwork and failed to properly secure an independent cost estimate of the contract, according to a newly published review by the agency’s inspector general.
A summary of the IG’s findings was previously included in a memo to acting OPM Director Beth Cobert last month. However, the full report, dated Dec. 2 and posted online today, provides more detail about the shortcuts OPM contracting staff to award the contract.
OPM IG Patrick McFarland said his office was unable to determine whether the deficiencies were significant enough to affect the actual awarding of the contract. However, the missteps his office identified “increased the risk of making an improper award,” he wrote in the new review.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2015/12/opm-rushed-award-20m-post-hack-contract-and-ran-afoul-federal-contracting-rules-ig-says/124369
