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Jan 27, 2009

Comments

anonymous

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (DoD IG) Hot Line is complicit as to apparent de facto co-operation by key parts of the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) management infrastructure with the Defense Contractors and/or their Consultants for the purposes of setting up the DCAA audits/auditors to fail by minimizing the DCAA auditor's knowledge of the contractor’s operations and systems by destroying the permanent files, not making field visits to the contractor's facility (also known as audits by e-mail), fostering DCAA staff turnovers, etc.; fending off audit findings by putting the audits on the back-burner then closing out the audits, because of elapsed days; blocking and/or compromising referrals of suspected irregular conduct (Form 2000); etc.

It was disclosed to Senator Claire McCaskill at the September 10, 2008 Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Hearing that instead of forwarding the senior DCAA auditor’s Hot Line complaint to the cognizant (California) DoD IG Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) office; the DoD IG Hot Line referred the complaint to DCAA Headquarters for action. It was only the fact that the senior DCAA auditor had also contacted a Special Agent at the local DCIS field office that the DCAA auditor learned what the DoD Hot Line had done to her (exposed her to retaliation by DCAA officials). Thus, right from the start her identity was not protected.

Instead of the DoD IG Hot Line having the major responsibility for protecting the Federal employee whistle blowers, who use its Hot Line, it is the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that has the authority and responsibility to investigate complaints of reprisal against Federal appropriated fund civilian employees. Well, we all know by now that the OSC, and the term "leaving the whistle blower hanging out to dry" are synonymous.

In the case of the DCAA protection of the whistle blower must involve a study of all the interactions of the chains of command of all the Federal oversight; and holding each one fully accountable. As we see in this case, and over and over again; stonewalling and the passage of time do not favor the unprotected whistle blowers.

Dfens

Yawn. It is so boring to watch POGO continue to operate as a defense contractor shill. Why don't you ask the DoD to change the award fee pool it pays in contracts from 10% across the board to something like 5% for development, 12% for production, and a bonus on delivery of a good, working product? Oh yeah, the contractors wouldn't like that, would they? They love the free money they make dragging out the development phase. I think I'll name my next dog POGO.

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