Archive: Inspectors General
Inspectors General Wanted
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...
By Robert O'Harrow | June 1, 2009; 03:32 PM ET | Comments (3)
Oversight Of Cash Quickly Becoming A Problem
Americans were promised unparalleled oversight, accountability and transparency of stimulus and financial bailout money. But that was then. This week, a different sort of reality became apparent, when inspectors general said they cannot keep up with requirements to keep tabs on tax dollars flowing to financial institutions and stimulus-related projects....
By Robert O'Harrow | May 7, 2009; 02:28 PM ET | Comments (1)
TARP Program Growing More Complex, Costly
In case you lost track, the $3 trillion Troubled Asset Relief Program has become a hydra-headed, public-private endeavor that is operating with no clear leadership. That's the conclusion of a new report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for TARP, which said the program is "12 separate, but...
By Robert O'Harrow | April 30, 2009; 04:59 PM ET | Comments (5)
Department of Energy Loses Track of Radioactive Material
The Department of Energy has done a poor job of tracking nuclear materials it has loaned under licenses to contractors, educational institutions and other organizations, according to an investigation by DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman and his staff. In some cases, the department cannot say where where the heavily radioactive...
By Robert O'Harrow | February 24, 2009; 11:06 AM ET | Comments (6)
Pentagon IG Report Finds Problems with Air Force Contract
The Pentagon's Inspector General found problems in an Air Force acquisition problem that sound all too familiar. According to the IG's recent report on the Second Generation Wireless Local Area Network, the program's management office failed to properly plan, manage and figure out the program's final cost. The report goes...
By Sara Goo | January 23, 2009; 07:59 AM ET | Comments (4)
Inspector General Says Iraq Contract Going Well
The latest report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction offers something relatively rare: Good news about burgeoning contracts and the government's oversight. It seems that Aegis Defence Services, Limited, which has received about $624 million to provide security services to the Defense Department, has been found to perform...
By Robert O'Harrow | January 15, 2009; 11:17 AM ET | Comments (4)
Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience
Now for your reading pleasure, Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience, a 500-plus page tome that comprises interviews with "hundreds of individuals" and a "review of thousands of documents." It is an official history that essentially offers the perspective of Stuart Bowen, chief of the Office of the Special...
By Robert O'Harrow | December 17, 2008; 10:21 AM ET | Comments (4)
DoD IG: Still More Oversight
Not long after announcing a new online tool kit for fraud oversight, the Department of Defense Inspector General's office now says it is creating a new office "to determine managerial, operational, and administrative efficiency and effectiveness." The Office of Professional Responsibility will "provide a system of checks and balances" to...
By Robert O'Harrow | November 18, 2008; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
IGs, Oversight, Reform
The Senate has approved a measure to bolster the roles of inspectors general, the figures in government who have perhaps the main role in providing eyes and ears for American taxpayers. The Inspector General Reform Act of 2007 would ensure that the IG jobs are filled with qualified folks...
By Robert O'Harrow | April 25, 2008; 09:31 AM ET | Comments (6)
Limited Competition
A new survey by the Defense Department's inspector general's office found that Pentagon buyers rarely sought out competition when granting task awards for work. That's according to a piece by Matthew Weigelt in Washington Technology and one by Elizabeth Newell in Government Executive "Competition was limited, and DOD did...
By Robert O'Harrow | November 30, 2007; 10:55 AM ET | Comments (0)
Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness
Inspectors General are supposed to be the independent eyes and ears of taxpayers inside government agencies. That tradition goes back to the beginning of the country. Ever since Congress passed the Inspector General Act in 1978, expanding their authority, IGs across the government have turned up billions in contracting fraud,...
By Robert O'Harrow | July 12, 2007; 06:23 AM ET | Comments (3)
