Special Inspector General Final Forensic Audit of Iraq Reconstruction Funds
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION
31 pages
July 13, 2012
SIGIR audits, inspections, and investigations have found serious weaknesses in the government’s controls over Iraq reconstruction funds that put billions of American taxpayer dollars at risk of waste and misappropriation. The precise amount lost to fraud and waste can never be known, but SIGIR believes it is significant. As of June 30, 2012, SIGIR audit reports had questioned $635.8 million in costs, and SIGIR Investigations, working with other agencies, had resulted in $176.84 million in fines, forfeitures, and other monetary results.
SIGIR audit reports identified internal control weaknesses such as inadequate reviews of contractors’ invoices, insufficient numbers of, or inadequately trained oversight staff, poor inventory controls, high staff turnover, poor recordkeeping, insufficient price competition by subcontractors, and weak oversight of cash disbursements. For example, SIGIR’s audit of a DoS contract for Iraqi police training program support found that more than $2.5 billion in U.S. funds was vulnerable to fraud and waste as a result of poor DoS oversight. Another SIGIR audit of a DoD contract for warehousing and distribution services found that the contractor’s business systems had not been adequately reviewed. Business system reviews are the government’s primary control to ensure that prices paid are reasonable and allowable.
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Bid Rigging
Mr. Jeff Mazon, a materials and property procurement manager for Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc., the prime contractor for the government under the Logistics Capabilities contract, inflated the bid from one subcontractor and then inflated the bid from a second subcontractor by a greater amount to make the first subcontractor appear to be the lower bidder. Kellogg Brown & Root Services subsequently awarded the contract to the lower cost first subcontractor. The scheme resulted in Kellogg Brown & Root Services paying an excess of $5.5 million to the subcontractor. Mr. Mazon was sentenced to 1 year probation and 6 months of home confinement and was required to pay a $5,000 fine.
http://publicintelligence.net/sigir-final-audit/
Full report at link (PDF format, 31 pages)
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