IG says 7 contracts violated acquisition rules

[unhappycamper]

IG says 7 contracts violated acquisition rules
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 28, 2008 7:57:30 EDT

An audit by the Defense Department Inspector General’s office of $57.2 million in contracts to support the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team found that seven of the eight contracts reviewed violated federal acquisition rules.

The audit, released Tuesday, faults officials at Air Combat Command and the 99th Contracting Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., for the contracting violations, which include the appearance of conflicts of interest by senior Air Force officials, awarding contracts without proper competition and failing to determine if favored vendors offered the best value.

“The … violations occurred because contracting officials perceived that senior Air Force military officers and associated contractors had used the powers of their positions to impose their preference on the contracting officers to award the contracts to specific companies,” the report says. “Files for five of the eight contracts contained documentation to support the appearance of a conflict of interest in the government-contractor relationship.”

The Air Force concurred with many of the findings of the recent audit and said it has already taken steps to correct the problems.

“These contracting actions at Nellis do not reflect the high standards has set for how the Air Force does business, which include commitment to contracting processes that are fair, lawful, and provide the American people the best value for their tax dollar,” said Air Force spokesman Capt. Mike Andrews. “Air Force leaders take seriously the report’s findings and have acted on every recommendation provided by the … Inspector General’s office.”


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/05/airforce_contracting_audit_052708w/



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