Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
February 23, 2008 By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A multibillion-dollar loophole slipped into a proposed crackdown on contract fraud has drawn the ire of a key Republican senator and the government's top watchdog regarding U.S. spending in Iraq.
The loophole would allow companies performing government work overseas to avoid having to report contract abuse. A review of documents shows it was added by Bush administration policy-writers after they received a draft of the proposed rule from the Justice Department.
Officials at the White House and the president's Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal procurement policy, have declined repeated requests for information about the exemption for overseas contracts.
The proposed rule is part of a crackdown on contract fraud that the Justice Department estimates has cost taxpayers $14 million in bribes alone over the past five years.
"It's important for the loophole to be closed in order to ensure good government oversight," said Kristine Belisle, spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Doing so "would be an additional tool for us and make the actions of the contracting company more transparent," Belisle said in an interview this week.
Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, called it "a disservice to taxpayers to exempt overseas contracts when holding bad actors accountable."
"And it could be a green light for fraud and abuse," he said.
The loophole, first reported earlier this month by The Associated Press, was written into rules proposed by the Justice Department to use against businesses that fail to root out internal waste and abuse of government contracts.
An estimated $350 billion is spent on government contracts annually. Studies indicate at least $102 billion has been spent since 2003 on postwar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, where the Justice Department so far has charged 44 people as a result of investigations into kickbacks, bribes and other abuses of taxpayers' money.
For decades, contractors have been asked to report internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects. Compliance has been voluntary. Over the past 15 years the number of company-reported fraud cases has declined steadily.
Now, the Justice Department wants to force companies to notify the government if they find evidence of contract abuse of more than $5 million. Failure to comply could make a company ineligible for future government work.
The proposed rule, as written by policy-writers who are reviewed by the OMB, specifically exempts "contracts to be performed outside the United States." The rule was published in the Federal Register in November.
The Justice Department's request for the rule — dated May 23, 2007 — does not mention an exemption for overseas contracts. The request signed by Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher suggests that some leeway could be given to small businesses only, but noted sternly that "the proposal does not relieve such contractors from the duty to report fraud."
February 23, 2008 By Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A multibillion-dollar loophole slipped into a proposed crackdown on contract fraud has drawn the ire of a key Republican senator and the government's top watchdog regarding U.S. spending in Iraq.
The loophole would allow companies performing government work overseas to avoid having to report contract abuse. A review of documents shows it was added by Bush administration policy-writers after they received a draft of the proposed rule from the Justice Department.
Officials at the White House and the president's Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal procurement policy, have declined repeated requests for information about the exemption for overseas contracts.
The proposed rule is part of a crackdown on contract fraud that the Justice Department estimates has cost taxpayers $14 million in bribes alone over the past five years.
"It's important for the loophole to be closed in order to ensure good government oversight," said Kristine Belisle, spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Doing so "would be an additional tool for us and make the actions of the contracting company more transparent," Belisle said in an interview this week.
Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, called it "a disservice to taxpayers to exempt overseas contracts when holding bad actors accountable."
"And it could be a green light for fraud and abuse," he said.
The loophole, first reported earlier this month by The Associated Press, was written into rules proposed by the Justice Department to use against businesses that fail to root out internal waste and abuse of government contracts.
An estimated $350 billion is spent on government contracts annually. Studies indicate at least $102 billion has been spent since 2003 on postwar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, where the Justice Department so far has charged 44 people as a result of investigations into kickbacks, bribes and other abuses of taxpayers' money.
For decades, contractors have been asked to report internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects. Compliance has been voluntary. Over the past 15 years the number of company-reported fraud cases has declined steadily.
Now, the Justice Department wants to force companies to notify the government if they find evidence of contract abuse of more than $5 million. Failure to comply could make a company ineligible for future government work.
The proposed rule, as written by policy-writers who are reviewed by the OMB, specifically exempts "contracts to be performed outside the United States." The rule was published in the Federal Register in November.
The Justice Department's request for the rule — dated May 23, 2007 — does not mention an exemption for overseas contracts. The request signed by Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher suggests that some leeway could be given to small businesses only, but noted sternly that "the proposal does not relieve such contractors from the duty to report fraud."