Justice Dept. | The Contracting Education Academy

November 11, 2019 By cs

DOJ announces ‘strike force’ to combat procurement crimes

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The Procurement Collusion Strike Force will “deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute antitrust crimes and related criminal schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim at a press conference. The strike force will use a “district-based task force organization model” to facilitate cooperation between the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, 13 Attorneys’ Offices, FBI and inspector general offices for Defense and Justice Departments, General Services Administration and U.S. Postal Service.

“When government contractors collude with each other to rig bids for government contracts at the federal, state, or local level, it leads to artificially higher prices for those goods or services. When the government has to pay those artificially higher prices, all American taxpayers are paying for it,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the press conference. “Strike Force will better inform federal, state, and local government procurement communities about these criminal activities and how to detect and report them.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/11/justice-department-announces-strike-force-combat-procurement-crimes/161103/

August 21, 2019 By cs

Former State Dept. employee pleads guilty to procurement fraud

The official had a social relationship with a furniture manufacturing executive, with whom she shared confidential contract information.

A former State Department official pleaded guilty last week to disclosing confidential proposal bids in an attempt to help a furniture company executive win a $1.56 million contract.

In December 2016, Patricia DeLaughter, former manager of the department’s Overseas Office Furniture Program, was working to solicit proposals for furnishing a new U.S. embassy when she and another department official knowingly disclosed the confidential bid prices and design plans of competitors to Steven Anstine, vice president of sales for an Overland Park, Kansas, manufacturing company, according to the Justice Department. Multiple news outlets, including The Post and Courier, identified the company as Bernhardt Furniture.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/08/former-state-department-employee-pleads-guilty-procurement-fraud/159170/

April 25, 2019 By AMK

State Dept. contracting officer indicted for bribery and procurement fraud

A 17-count indictment was unsealed today charging Zaldy N. Sabino, a contracting officer with the U.S. Department of State, with conspiracy, bribery, honest services wire fraud, and making false statements.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, Inspector General Steve A. Linick of the U.S. Department of State and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

According to the indictment, between November 2012 and early 2017, Sabino and the owner of a Turkish construction firm allegedly engaged in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme in which Sabino received at least $239,300 in cash payments from the Turkish owner while Sabino supervised multi-million dollar construction contracts awarded to the Turkish owner’s business partners and while Sabino made over a half million in structured cash deposits into his personal bank accounts. Sabino allegedly concealed his unlawful relationship by, among other things, making false statements on financial disclosure forms and during his background reinvestigation.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-department-contracting-officer-indicted-bribery-and-procurement-fraud

April 3, 2019 By AMK

ATF rushed sole-source contracts without market research, watchdog finds

In its efforts to meet small business contracting goals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives neglected proper market research and record-keeping before awarding sole-source contracts, a watchdog found.

“Proper documentation is necessary to show that ATF safeguarded federal funds, furthered the purpose of small business programs, and complied with sole-source contracting authorities,” wrote the Justice Department inspector general in a report released on March 14th.

“ATF did not maintain complete contract files and could not demonstrate that it had conducted required market research before awarding several sole-source contracts,” auditors found in a review of 16 sole-source contracts totaling $56 million to nine small businesses in 2016-2017.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2019/03/atf-rushed-sole-source-contracts-without-market-research-watchdog-finds/155640/

December 28, 2018 By AMK

$110,000 settlement reached with tech company and CEO to resolve allegations of false claims on Defense contract

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, has announced that Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer have paid a combined $110,000 to settle allegations that the corporation and its CEO made false statements concerning a consultant’s security clearance and failed to disclose an organizational conflict of interest when bidding on a defense procurement contract.

One way federal government agencies can buy information technology services is by working with the National Institutes of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC). NITAAC is a government-wide program that enables agencies to contract for information technology. Other federal agencies, including the military, regularly work with NITAAC.

The United States’ allegations relate to a project in which NITAAC was used by the Army and the Air Force for a contract that was awarded to Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS). The United States contends that in 2014, PTFS’s President and CEO, John Yokley, participated in preparing project specifications for a contract to be issued by NITAAC. The project then was offered by NITAAC for contract bids. PTFS then submitted its own proposal to take on the contract. In doing so, however, PTFS stated that it had no conflict of interest relating to the contract. This statement was false because PTFS had a conflict in that Mr. Yokley had provided input on project specifications that were included in the contract, thereby gaining a competitive advantage for PTFS. In addition, the project required security clearances, and PTFS falsely stated in its proposal that an individual who would participate in the project as a key “Subject Matter Expert” had an active Top Secret clearance. PTFS was awarded the contract. Funding for the contract was later terminated before PTFS could invoice more than $30,000. The United States claimed that this conduct violated the False Claims Act.

The claims settled by this agreement are allegations. In entering into this civil settlement, PTFS and Mr. Yokley did not admit liability. Under the agreement, PTFS paid $65,000, and Mr. Yokley paid $45,000, to resolve the allegations.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/us-attorney-announces-110000-settlement-tech-company-and-its-ceo-resolve-allegations

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The official had a social relationship with a furniture manufacturing executive, with whom she shared confidential contract information.

A 17-count indictment was unsealed today charging Zaldy N. Sabino, a contracting officer with the U.S. Department of State, with conspiracy, bribery, honest services wire fraud, and making false statements.

In its efforts to meet small business contracting goals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives neglected proper market research and record-keeping before awarding sole-source contracts, a watchdog found.

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