OPM’s Human Resources Solutions improperly used a small business set-aside as a pass through to give work to a preferred vendor, the agency’s inspector general has said.
In a final report following up on a Department of Labor investigation from 2011, OPM’s IG said HRS employees repeatedly contacted a company called Information Experts, promising them three projects if they hired Stewart Liff and Associates, Inc. as part of the deal.
HRS provides HR services to almost every federal agency. The investigation faulted HRS employees for misuse of position as well as mismanagement.
The projects in question were for consulting work for the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, a training session for HRS employees, and organizational assessments for OPM’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Retirement Services, and OPM’s internal HR office.
HRS employees thought a contract HRS had with Information Experts allowed them to use an expedited process to award task orders directly to a small business, according to the IG. However, it said OPM improperly included language in the contract that created a “home-grown” small business set aside program, violating fair opportunity and competition provisions.
About $450,000 in taxpayer dollars was paid to Information Experts so that OPM (as well as DOL-VETS) was guaranteed access to Liff via a subcontract without competition, according to the report.
