Skip to content Skip to left sidebar Skip to right sidebar Skip to footer

Audits

GSA Chief’s Wrath for Whistleblower

Denise Turner Roth Retaliated Against Whistleblower

The Inspector General found that Ms. Roth she retaliated against a whistleblower, threatening him with transfer to another position and limiting his job responsibilities.

Sources reveal that this whistleblower is outgoing FAS commissioner Tom Sharpe.

Sharpe apparently alerted several executives about the Technology Transformation Service’s use of the Acquisition Services Fund, which the IG calls “violations of the law, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority.”

Sharpe’s complaint detailed TTS’s use of the ASF money. The fund consists of fees agencies pay, governmentwide acquisition contract revenue, and sale of surplus properties. The TTS’s use of the money has met controversy, as many believe the service competes with work already provided to other agencies, and distracts from the mission of FAS. As such, some executives harbor concerns that these actions are counterproductive to FAS’s mission.

Roth denies any wrongdoing and calls the Inspector General’s findings “wrong and disappointing.” She maintains that “all actions I took were necessary and driven to modernize the federal government.”

The Inspector General has referred the case to the Office of Special Counsel.

For more information, visit Federal News Radio.

The IG’s Eye’s on you

The Inspector General’s biannual report to Congress was especially telling this year. The report covered October 2016 to March 2017.

In that period, the office audited 31 contractors. They found that 21 partners did not submit honest information, 13 overcharged GSA customers, eight did not adequately report schedule sales, and five did not comply with price reduction provisions.

All of that adds up to $224 million in savings through smarter or less spending. The IG also noted that GSA’s digital services wing, intended to cover its own costs, had guzzled $32 million government dollars.

The IG recommended no fewer than 168 cases for legal action, of which 49 faced prosecution and 41 indictment. More than 100 companies were suspended and debarred.

The moral of the story is to keep a tight ship; you don’t want to answer to the inspector general.