The Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general has issued two reports detailing multiple instances where senior personnel abused their authority by hiring friends and relatives, improperly doling out cash awards and engaging in prohibited personnel practices.
In two lengthy and heavily redacted reports, the IG said it substantiated that an assistant to the former assistant secretary for IT engaged in nepotism by improperly advocating for the hiring and advancement of a relative within the office of information and technology.
The assistant also improperly hired a friend and at a rate above the minimum rate of pay, it said.
OI&T managers also improperly authorized academic degree funding and improperly utilized the federal career intern program and the direct hire authority to appoint the employee’s friends and family, and managers were not fiscally responsible in administering $24 million of awards and retention bonuses in calendar years 2007 and 2008, the IG found.
It also concluded that the deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management took advantage of an inappropriate personal relationship with the former assistant secretary for IT to have her duty station moved to Florida even though she spent almost 60 percent of her time at VA Central Office on official travel. Within nine months she had racked up $37,000 in travel.
An associate deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management abused her authority by filling four GS-15 positions by pre-selecting individuals to fill the three supervisory IT specialist positions and one supervisory program management officer position.
The associate told a subordinate she could select whomever she wanted, according to the IG, and she also was dismissive of rating and ranking sheets created 19 days after she made her picks.
