SOURCE: fiercegovernment.com ByZach Rausnitz
A government employee who stepped into a contractor’s role is among the targets of a report criticizing contracting practices at the Bureau of Land Management.
The Interior Department office of inspector general says in a recently released report, dated Sept. 30, that a BLM project officer placed a request to modify a contract, “in effect, representing the contractor.”
The project officer and the contracting officer involved had to be counseled on proper contracting practices, the report says. At the time of the report, the BLM was finalizing guidelines to outline the responsibilities and limitations of contracting officers and project officers.
The audit stemmed from the OIG’s prior discovery that BLM had made payments for costs that exceeded the amount agreed to in a contract and also for costs that the contractor incurred outside the period of performance.
Auditors found contract files that lacked evidence of market research, price analyses, and whether invoices were reviewed before payments went out. In response, BLM says contracts are now subject to random reviews to check for completeness.
READ THE FULL OIG REPORT HERE
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