(Washington, DC) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) expressed dismay at the continued revelations of malfeasance and disregard for taxpayer dollars at the General Services Administration (GSA).  A report released yesterday by the Office of Audits at the GSA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) revealed that senior managers within the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) improperly intervened in the award of contracts for information technology (IT) services and equipment.  In the process, GSA management “undermined the integrity of the procurement process.”

The OIG audit focused on three 2011 contracts worth a total of more than $900 million to Oracle America, Carahsoft Technology, and Deloitte Consulting, in which the OIG found interference by superiors caused either higher contract prices, less favorable terms for the government, or questionable contract extensions.  The results reveal an environment at GSA that appears rife with cronyism, mismanagement, and intimidation.  According to the report, GSA contracting officers told the OIG that they “feared for their jobs because they were trying to do the right thing and protect the taxpayers’ interests,” and that “GSA contractors know they can get whatever they want by going to FAS management.” 

At times, senior GSA officials reportedly engaged in communications with contractors without the knowledge of the employees in charge of negotiations.  In one chilling example, GSA directors did not provide proper justification for reassigning a contract with Oracle to a new contracting officer (CO).  By way of explanation, the Division Director told the snubbed employee, “Oracle is done with you as a CO.”

Yesterday’s report is yet another indication of an agency out of control.  In April, 2012, the GSA OIG famously unearthed an $820,000 conference in Las Vegas in October, 2010 that included a $75,000 bicycle-building exercise, a $1,960 party in the Public Buildings Service Commissioner’s suite, and $6,300 for commemorative coins.  GSA employees received $30 million in unreported bonuses in 2012.  

“It is becoming clear that the inmates are running the asylum at GSA,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “On procurement, it is wasteful; on property management, it is ignorant.  Heads have already rolled at GSA for its regrettable judgment on conference spending, and they should certainly roll again now.  The federal government’s foundation for procurement is under the stewardship of the GSA, and Congress should dig as deep as necessary to see if it is rotten at its core.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.