Improper Payment | The Contracting Education Academy

June 19, 2019 By AMK

GSA out of compliance on improper payments, watchdog finds

Financial controls designed to minimize agency payments to undeserving parties are not being fully followed by the government’s landlord, the General Services Administration, according to a watchdog report released on Friday.

GSA in fiscal 2018 failed to comply with two of six requirements in the amended Improper Payments Act, said the agency’s inspector general. Specifically, the agency “did not publish an accurate improper payment estimate in its Fiscal Year 2018 Agency Financial Report and … [did not] publish accurate and complete improper payments data in its Fiscal Year 2018 Agency Financial Report,” said the report by the team under IG Carol Fortine Ochoa. “GSA’s risk assessment process is flawed and its procedures for the Do Not Pay initiative contain significant deficiencies and are ineffective.”

Federal law requires agencies with programs susceptible to significant improper payments to estimate and report on them annually to the Office of Management and Budget, in addition to implementing corrective actions. But if a program’s estimated and reported improper payments are below the statutory thresholds for a minimum of two consecutive years, the agency may request relief from the annual reporting requirements.

The IG reviewed GSA’s improper payments in rental of space and purchase cards in fiscal 2017 and 2018, having found $109 million in total improper payments in 2017, and then $16.7 million in 2018 in the rental of space program only. The new report’s review covered August 2018 through February 2019.

Keep reading article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/06/gsa-out-compliance-improper-payments-watchdog-finds/157447

September 29, 2016 By AMK

Lawmakers want more than ‘half-hearted’ response to travel card use at casinos and strip clubs

A bipartisan group of six House members has written to Defense Secretary Ash Carter demanding more than a “half-hearted” response from the Pentagon’s financial systems managers following a recent watchdog report showing continued use of government travel cards at casinos and strip clubs.

DOD IG The Defense Department inspector general’s review of 30 cases of potential travel card abuse totaling $952,258 last year found that managers “did not take appropriate action when notified.” Even though many of the abusers repay the government for personal visits to entertainment emporiums during official travel, the report said, “DoD management did not consistently consider the security implications of improper personal use of the travel card.”

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, wrote that “the department has not taken steps to eliminate additional misuse of the government travel cards, initiated reviews for improper payments, or consistently considered the security implications of the misused travel cards. As a result, the government travel card program remains susceptible to continued waste and exploitation.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/technology/2016/09/lawmakers-want-more-half-hearted-response-travel-card-use-casinos-strip-clubs/131768

October 4, 2014 By AMK

Reverse auctioneer FedBid slammed by VA inspector general

Executives at a popular federal reverse auction contractor have come under fire for taking “significant measures to disrupt and deprive” the Department of Veterans Affairs’ ability “to transact official business honestly and impartially, free from improper and undue influence.” The company and its executives could now face potential suspension or debarment from federal contracting.

In a damning 82-page report released Monday, the VA’s inspector general detailed an orchestrated campaign by FedBid executives to “assassinate” the character of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Logistics Jan Frye after he suspended the use of reverse auctions throughout the agency in 2012. Investigators also found that Susan Taylor, VA’s deputy chief procurement officer at the Veterans Health Administration, abused her position and “improperly acted as an agent of FedBid in matters before the government.”

What started as an investigation into Taylor’s alleged interference with a review of the FedBid contract soon led the IG to discover Taylor had been giving FedBid preferential treatment, going so far as to disclose proprietary information and pressure contracting staff to award a task order for reverse auction services to FedBid. Although the IG referred the matter to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution, DOJ did not press charges and recommended VA take administrative actions.

Keep reading this article at: http://fedscoop.com/reverse-auctioneer-fedbid-censured-va-inspector-general-report/

June 30, 2014 By AMK

GAO: DoD didn’t take steps to ensure contactor pay was correct

The Defense Department didn’t fully implement the steps required to make sure contractor pay was correct, a June 23 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is responsible for processing and disbursing nearly $200 billion annually in contract payments for the DoD, the report says.

“Although DFAS has asserted audit readiness, until it corrects the deficiencies and fully implements its Financial Improvement Plan, its ability to process, record, and maintain accurate and reliable contract pay transaction data is questionable,” GAO says.

In one instance, DFAS didn’t assess the dollar activity and risk factors of its processes. Because of that DFAS couldn’t reconcile its contractor pay data with the ledgers of its DoD components, the report says.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/gao-dod-didnt-take-steps-ensure-contactor-pay-was-correct/2014-06-24

February 18, 2014 By AMK

False Claims Act filing requirements trump shipping rule, whistleblower case reinstated

A federal appeals court has reinstated a whistleblower lawsuit brought in 2008 against shipping company DHL Express.

Kevin Grupp and Robert Moll alleged DHL improperly billed the federal government for jet fuel surcharges on ground shipments. DHL had won dismissal at the trial court, the federal court in Buffalo, but on Feb. 5 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed that ruling.

Judge Ralph Winter authored the opinion for the Second Circuit. He wrote that a rule that requires challenges to shipping disputes to be brought within 180 days does not apply to False Claims Act cases.

“Application of the 180-day rule would completely nullify the tolling allowance as the Government is often unlikely to become award of fraud immediately following the violation,” Winter wrote.

Keep reading this article at: http://legalnewsline.com/news/federal-government/247130-false-claims-act-filing-requirements-trump-shipping-rule-whistleblower-case-reinstated

Financial controls designed to minimize agency payments to undeserving parties are not being fully followed by the government’s landlord, the General Services Administration, according to a watchdog report released on Friday.

A bipartisan group of six House members has written to Defense Secretary Ash Carter demanding more than a “half-hearted” response from the Pentagon’s financial systems managers following a recent watchdog report showing continued use of government travel cards at casinos and strip clubs.

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