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March 22, 2021 By cs

GAO report suggests DOE should identify more instances of contractor fraud

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on Department of Energy (DOE) contracting, entitled “Improvements Needed to Ensure DOE Assesses Its Full Range of Contracting Fraud Risks.”

The thrust of the report is that DOE should do more to prevent and detect fraud, particularly in less-examined areas such as bid-rigging, misrepresentation of eligibility, kickbacks and gratuities, and conflicts of interest.

DOE relies on contractors to carry out its missions at laboratories and other facilities, spending approximately 80 percent of its $41 billion in total obligations on contracts.  In March 2017, GAO reviewed DOE’s approach to managing its risk of fraud and found DOE did not use leading practices, resulting in missed opportunities to mitigate the likelihood and impact of fraud.

In its most recent report, GAO examined DOE’s processes for managing contracting fraud risks and concluded that DOE has not assessed the full range of fraud risks it faces.

Despite some improvements toward combating fraud in response to GAO’s March 2017 recommendations, GAO noted that the agency’s methods for gathering information capture only top fraud risks and fail to obtain information on fraud risks for non-management and operating (M&O) contractors.

GAO reviewed nine categories of contracting fraud schemes that occurred at DOE sites, and found that DOE’s risk profiles for FY 2018 and 2019 captured five of these nine fraud schemes (billing schemes, payroll schemes, product quality, theft, contract progress schemes), but failed to capture four others: bid-rigging, misrepresentation of eligibility, kickbacks and gratuities, and conflicts of interest. The report urges DOE to give these other areas greater focus in its fraud risk planning.

Keep reading this article at: https://governmentcontractsnavigator.com/2021/01/19/gao-report-suggests-doe-should-identify-more-instances-of-contractor-fraud/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, bid rigging, conflict of interest, DOE, Energy Dept., fraud, GAO, gratuity, kickback, misrepresentation, waste

December 17, 2019 By cs

Former Army employee charged with bribery, kickbacks in connection with scheme to steer contracts

A former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was charged in an indictment unsealed Dec. 12th for his role in a scheme to steer Army contracts for work to be performed at Camp Arifjan, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait.

Ephraim Garcia, 62, was charged in an indictment filed in December 2018 in the District of Columbia with one count of offering a bribe, one count of receiving illegal gratuities and one count of offering kickbacks.

The indictment further charges Gandhi Raj, 39, with paying illegal gratuities to Garcia.

As alleged in the indictment:

  • Garcia worked in the U.S. Army’s Directorate of Public Works and was involved in the solicitation, award and management of various government contracts related to projects at Camp Arifjan.
  • In or around September 2015, Garcia allegedly approached an employee of a prime contractor and offered to pay him in exchange for his assistance in steering contracts to a particular subcontractor owned by Raj, Gulf Link Venture Company.
  • Garcia allegedly told the prime contractor employee that Gulf Link would artificially inflate the cost of certain of its bid proposals, and Garcia, Gulf Link and the prime contractor employee would split the proceeds.
  • Additionally, over a period of about five years, Garcia and/or members of his immediate family allegedly received over $170,000 in wire transfers from Raj and other individuals associated with Gulf Link and another subcontractor that was bidding on work under the prime contract.

Garcia was arrested on Dec. 10, 2019, in the Philippines, where he has been residing since 2016.  Raj, who was living in Kuwait at the time of the offense, remains a fugitive.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) investigated the case.  The Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-army-employee-charged-bribery-kickbacks-connection-scheme-steer-contracts

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, acquisition workforce, Army, bribe, bribery, corruption, DCIS, DoD, federal contracts, gratuity, kickback

January 5, 2014 By AMK

VA official indicted in bribery case

A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs official in Palo Alto was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he accepted thousands of dollars in money and construction work in exchange for giving preferential treatment to government contractors.

VA sealConrad Lopez Alfaro, 69, of Fremont was charged with two counts of receiving an illegal gratuity as a public official in an indictment handed down Wednesday in San Jose.

The charges are the latest in an ongoing prosecution by federal officials, who have in court records alleged a “culture of corruption at the Palo Alto VA.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/ex-palo-alto-va-official-indicted-in-bribery-case-1.320096

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: bribery, corruption, gratuity, kickback, VA

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