A former top procurement official at the Department of Veterans Affairs — who now holds a similar position at the Treasury Department — steered contracts to a company with which she had a personal relationship, according to a watchdog report.

In concert with a VA colleague, Iris Cooper “preselected” the company, Tridec Technologies, then divided the work up into separate, smaller contracts that stayed below a threshold that allowed them to be awarded without competition, according to the agency’s Inspector General. In all, the Ohio-based company won more than $15 million in work since 2009 to help build an online acquisitions site

The IG’s report is the second in recent months to accuse a top-ranking VA acquisitions official of improperly steering contracts. In September, the IG said that another VA contracting officer sought to improperly benefit Vienna-based FedBid. She resigned after the report became public.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/12/18/report-va-official-inappropriately-steered-contracts-before-moving-to-treasury/