Washington Post

The Washington Post has been taking stock of its Web offerings in an effort to make the best use of its resources. Many blogs will be suspended for the foreseeable future, including Government Inc. More than 300 Government Inc. postings will remain available at as archives. Readers with story tips or thoughts about federal procurement and fraud, waste and abuse of tax dollars should feel free to contact Robert O'Harrow Jr. or other Post reporters, at 202-334-6000.

Government Inc. is taking a short break, in part to contemplate the state of federal procurement.

"In the autumn of 2005, a mutual friend introduced Pamela Banks to a burly ex-Marine named Gary Alexander, at the time a high-ranking official at the secretive SPAWAR military research facility in San Diego. "Alexander had a simple proposition. He could get Banks hired as a subcontractor on government projects through his position at SPAWAR, and get her all the work she would want. "In return, Alexander asked for one thing: a 30 percent cut of the revenue generated from the contracts. "Banks agreed, according to federal court records. She set up a small company in her San Diego home dubbed Advanced Technical Solutions and over the next two years reeled in $325,000 in subcontracts for SPAWAR work." That's the top of a story this week in the San Diego Union-Tribune. It's based on a recently unsealed Justice Department indictment of people who worked as senior officials in the Navy

Looks like E-Verify is going to happen after all. Starting Sept. 8, federal contractors will have to participate in a broad effort to crack down on illegal immigration by confirming that employees are allowed to work in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the Obama administration's support of the decade-old program on July 8. That mandate, requiring contractors to use the system known as E-Verify, has been delayed repeatedly. Critics have complained that the system, which verifies that employees have legitimate Social Security numbers, often gets it wrong. Napolitano said the system has improved. "Requiring those who seek federal contracts to use this system will create a more reliable and legal workforce. The rule complements our Department's continued efforts to strengthen immigration law enforcement and protect critical employment opportunities. As Senator Schumer and others have recognized, we need to continue to work to improve E-Verify, and

"A former executive for a Pennsylvania defense firm with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) has been charged with taking bribes from a partner defense company and appears to be cooperating in a federal investigation of Pentagon contracting." That's the top of a story by our Post colleague Carol Leonnig, who has been closely following a rolling federal investigation of contractors with ties to Murtha. The case appears to be gaining momentum. It continues to fuel questions about the role that Murtha -- chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on military spending -- played in arranging contracts, congressional earmarks and the like for favored companies. More from Leonnig's story: "Richard Ianieri, the former president of Coherent Systems International, is accused of taking bribes from officials at a firm the company hired as a contractor. The charges, filed late Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh, came in

Two government employees allegedly shared restricted procurement information with SAIC and others on a $3.2 billion NASA contract, giving the contractors an unfair advantage, the Justice Department said. SAIC said the allegations do not have merit. The allegations are part of a whistleblower lawsuit that the Justice Department just said it would join. "The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, alleges that the defendants knowingly violated the False Claims Act when they submitted (or caused to be submitted) false claims and conspired to submit false claims under a $3.2 billion contract with the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide support services to a branch of the NAVO MSRC. In April 2004, GSA awarded the contract to SAIC, which teamed with AES and Lockheed Martin Space Operations to perform the agreement." "'Those who do business with the government must act fairly and in accordance

Some long overdue scrutiny of ANCs is about to get intense. Some of you may have seen some trend data recently. It came from the office of Sen.Claire McCaskill in anticipation of a hearing on July 16. Some of the salient points included in a statement her office released: - "Between 2000 and 2008, contract awards to Alaska Native Corporations increased by $4.6 billion, from $508.4 million to $5.2 billion." - "In percentage terms, ANC contract spending increased 915 percent from 2000 to 2008, an average increase of 33.6 percent per year." - "In total, ANCs received $23.8 billion in federal contracts between 2000 and 2008." You may recall that ANCs occupy a very special place in the federal procurement universe. Formed with the idea of settling native Alaska claims against the federal government -- and helping Native Alaskans to pull themselves out of poverty -- the firms qualify

We have known for some time about the troubles surrounding the national security program intended to prevent bad guys from importing radiological material that could be used to make a nuke or dirty bomb. What was not entirely clear until now -- in part because of the questioned behavior of people running the Department of Homeland Security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office -- is whether costly new machines touted as the solution actually worked. One thing preventing a clear understanding was the fact that DNDO officials allowed contractors to modify their machines, known as Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitors, during tests in order to boost the appearance of effectiveness. Let's set that aside for now. Anyway, the answer about whether the machines are worth their cost seems finally at hand. From a story in today's Post: "The Department of Homeland Security spent three years pushing for a costly nuclear detection system that

A healthy squabble erupted between the White House and Sen. Thomas Coburn yesterday over the benefits and drawbacks of the stimulus spending. Well, it continues. And now they're getting deep into the weeds. And yet it's still kind of interesting. As some of you undoubtedly know, the White House issued a report about the achievements of the stimulus spending so far. In short, it said everything was cool. "In the first 100 days since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, we have obligated more than $112 billion, created more than 150,000 jobs and helped communities and tribes in every state and territory." In response, Coburn issued a report yesterday that said, in effect, everything isn't so cool. Called a "Second Opinion on the Stimulus," its 100 examples of alleged poor or misguided stimulus projects include "nearly $10 million to renovate an abandoned train station that

Sen. Tom Coburn is offering a GOP counterpoint to a recent White House report that extolled the early successes of the $787 billion stimulus program. The White House report focused on 100 projects that administration officials believe demonstrate the wisdom of the massive fast-spending effort to jolt the economy back to health. Coburn's report essentially says "Wait one minute there, fellas." It's called "A Second Opinion on the Stimulus," and it features 100 projects that the senator and his staff believe show the waste and foolishness of some stimulus spending. An LA Times story this morning says the report "contends the Obama administration's stimulus program is fraught with waste and incompetence -- evidenced by a turtle crossing in northern Florida that will cost more than $3 million and a snafu in which thousands of Social Security checks went out to people who had died." "Will these projects make real improvements

We have known for awhile now that the intelligence community spends up to 70 percent of its budget on contractors. That includes the firms that supply light bulbs, the office chairs and such. It also includes technology vendors, along with legions of contract analysts, who have been hired to, among other things, examine "open source" content on the Web and other material from around the world. Now comes another story to remind us how integral contractors have become to the nation's security infrastructure. "Weeks after President Obama took office, the Central Intelligence Agency extended its contract with a firm run by two psychologists who helped introduce waterboarding and other harsh methods to the agency's interrogation techniques, according to a news report. "Two months later, CIA Director Leon Panetta fired Mitchell, Jessen & Associates and all other contractors that aided the CIA in its interrogations of alleged terrorists, the New Yorker

Here's a trend to keep in mind, though many of you might not find it surprising: "Big companies, ranging from AT&T to Dell to FedEx to Tyson Foods, are among those cashing in on the billions of dollars of federal stimulus money that is rolling out the door. "Some $4.3 billion of federal money is already funding more than 1,500 projects. Of that total, 85%, or $3.6 billion worth, has been funneled to big business," according to CNNMoney.com. The pattern matters because it seems to mirror how business is done across the federal procurement system: Speak about the importance of small firms and then award the deals to the Big Guys. It also matters because only a small fraction of the spending has occurred so far, so presumably those in charge of the cashboxes have time to change course. On the other hand, writing the checks to the big contractors

As promised, here's the new report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the organization formed by Congress to examine where all the money went. It's a sad reminder about just how bad the contracting system has been in recent years, and all the billions that have been wasted because of poor oversight, poor planning and plain old corruption. "The environment in Iraq and Afghanistan has been and continues to be susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse," the report said. The report, called "At What Cost? Contingency Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan," contains the interim findings of the commission, which will issue a final report next year. It underscores the gloomy finding about the troubled federal procurement system from a host of other analysis in recent years. It'll be the subject of a hearing today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's national security and

Let's file this one in the "You don't say?" folder. "The Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says a new report by an independent commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending." You name the problem and it's apparently documented by the report. Poor management. Weak oversight. And much waste. This according to a story by the Associated Press, which obtained an early copy of the report. "One example of wasted money cited by the commission involves construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. The decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork. Yet the project is too far along to stop, making the mess hall a future monument to the waste and inefficiency plaguing the

It was supposed to be a stealthy, aircraft carrier-based attack jet. Instead, it turned out merely to be yet another late, over-budget project that never really got off the ground. The Navy terminated the A-12 progam in 1991 and then did battle in court with the contractors, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, for 18 years. The contractors challenged the cancellation, saying it was unjustified. Finally, the courts have made a final ruling. The Navy won, according to the Justice Department. "In a 29-page opinion, the court of appeals explained that the termination decision was justified under the parties' contract because the contractors' performance history demonstrated that 'the government was justifiably insecure about the contract's timely completion' and there was no excuse for the contractors' failure to make progress toward completion of the contract." Here's where the money part comes: "Under the decision, the contractors are required to repay the government

President Obama faces another one of those deals that's both a big challenge and a great opportunity. He must fill as many as 10 inspectors general jobs. The Pentagon, Education Department, State Department and other agencies all are in need of the IG watchdogs. Finding the right people for these posts is no easy matter. They have be aggressive, determined and fair in their quest to prevent or weed out fraud, waste and abuse in federal spending. They also have to be able to guide others to do the same -- despite criticism from some quarters that that IG's are too negative or don't understand procurement sufficiently well. The last few years have not been especially good ones for IGs, some of whom became embroiled in scandals or failed to pursue wrongdoing very aggressively. Anyway, this came to mind after we read a piece in The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel called

Ever since we first heard about the FDA's plan to buy gift cards to "incent" hard working employees to keep them, well, working hard, we wanted to know more. You may recall that the FDA deal involved the purchase of 160 "employee incentive gift cards" worth $250 each. The contract was worth $41,030. (Yes, when you do the math, it appears that the contractor got about $6.44 for each card delivered.) We learned from the acting FDA administrator that about 15 percent of all agency employees received a gift card last year. Acting FDA Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein knew that because he himself said he was trying to find more detail about the program, which he suspended pending a review. Now the Office of Personnel Management is adding some new -- incomplete but compelling -- details about the gift cards and other forms of informal employee bonuses, including cash payments. It

The debate over how to spend tens of billions in stimulus money is getting personal, it seems. Readers of the Washington Post may have noticed stories about the effort to use the massive stimulus legislation to jumpstart the creation of a nationwide network of electronic health record systems. One story showed that a technology trade group called the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society played a big role in generating support for government subsidies of such gear. The group's decade-long campaign -- including the creation of non-profit research groups -- culminated when the Obama administration included up to $36.5 billion in stimulus spending for electronic health records systems, or EHR. (They predict that spending could lead to $17 billion in savings over the next decade in healthcare costs.) A second story showed that the trade group is urging the Obama administration to name a certain certification group to help