Bob -

Good piece. Unfortunately, this particular contracting officer, probably because of her relatively low position, had to resort to taking cash bribes, which are clearly illegal. Had she been higher ranking, she could have given the company all it wanted in exchange for a job later on (despite the existence of the so-called Procurement Integrity law). Sadly, it appears that many senior government contracting officials are tomorrow's contractor executives or managers.

If you go to any of the contractor association conferences, you will see the networking in action, as government contracting personnel (usually those considering retirement) jockey for contractor jobs. Not bribery - technically, but you can't help but get the feeling that they are selling themselves to the "highest bidder".

Connie

Did this contractor handle the SSA mail as part of the building security?

No surprise: USProtect PAC gave money to Northern Virginia's favorite Congressman on the Take, Tom Davis, donating to Davis's PAC, the Federal Victory Fund. Like most contractors, they were interested in getting influence with Davis when he was chair of the Congressional Government Oversight Committee. According to the FEC, two Arlington residents set up USProtect PAC and donated to it in 10/2005, and then donated to Davis the same month. The PAC has donated to no one else.
See http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00408617/

Perhaps they also hired Davis's wife, state senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, who "prepares" contractors for hearings before Davis's committee through the lobbying company ICG Government.
See Harrow's story on their tangled web of money and influence here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701846_pf.html

Connie, I don't think low-level employees can command bribes. They can't deliver any results. Companies don't pay if they won't see results.

I am a GSA Contracting Officer who is completely appalled that a co-worker in my agency would be so stupid to accept a bribe from a contractor. All of the employees, and especially the Contracting Officers I know, are the most ethical, honest and hard working associates in Government. I hope one individual's actions do not taint the reputation of so many others who strive daily to serve all Government agencies and the American taxpayer. I also hope that she is prosecuted to the full extent of the law and she spends many years in prison reflecting on her shame.

How did USProtect procure contracts already awarded to Akal Security Inc. in Texas and Washington D.C.?

I have to agree that the true crime is the revolving door between contractors and Federal employees. Take the case of Former Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary. She is now on the board of directors of ICF Kaiser, after of course they were awarded multi million dollar contracts and performace bonuses.

Too bad the whistleblowers have been castrated, and government officials, including our elected officials are not being held accountable.

Best government money can buy.

Tip of the iceberg.

Adding to Connie's comments, while all this jockeying for a position goes on the govenrment contracting person is probably not holding the contractor's feet to the fire so as to make sure they get that good paying job when they retire from the gov. And it's not just contracting personnel but government program managers as well - especially military program managers.

i was a guard for holiday international from 2001 to 2003 continue employment when they try to be deceitful changing there name to USProtect.worked four years with USProtect from 2003 to 2007,the east and south bay in california. they were a group of theives than and they are now i think the good lord they were exposed.

IT SEEMS LIKE BRIBES AND WAR CAN GO TO A TRILLION DOLLARS, BUT HEALTH FOR CHILDREN WILL COST 10O MILLION IN FIVE YEARS AND YOUR PEOPLE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THAT,SHAME

Tip of the iceberg is right on. How about all the members of congress and their relatives who are or will be lobbyist for companies where the members vote on legislation and pork for the companies in exchange for jobs and PAC money. It's amazing that anything good for the general public ever happens , or does it ?

Communist China today announced that they are now able to fight an offensive war, because of the newly operational and modern air defense radar system. China now has more military jets then the United States and they are on par or better. The Chinese army not only is overwhelming in numbers compared to the United States has passed us in readiness and modern arms. Hands down they can defeat all of the so-called super powers in a conventional war. This serious turn of events is do solely to our free trade with China...the wealth and technology that has been transferred. WHY?Who is responsible besides the self serving politicians...we need to find out and get rid of them, these vile traitors.

Vote Ron Paul
He's the only honest one who will attempt to subvert the federal beast of a government.

So? What else is new?
Have the trials and if guilty, take their assets, start a public accessed data base of untrustworthy, felonious people and turn them out into the streets.
They'll do fine.

What would be ideal is if people would demand more from the people in the top side of government agencies. If you ask the little people working they will tell you things are really screwed up. The biggest problem is these payoffs include giving friends jobs in high places and these friends have no clue how to run the departments. They actually end up playing high school games and creating hostile enviornments that never end because they can't be touched because of "WHO THEY KNOW". Much of the mismanagement of most of our agencies is for this very reason. This is costing tax payers billions of dollars and a problem that will NEVER BE FIXED. I witness this first hand. People are shifted around constantly and time is wasted from some idiot who doesn't know what they are doing. While it has no effect on the person doing the shifting it's causing a lot of problems for those who are trying to do a job. Maybe it's part of their strategy for keeping their budget in line. If they make sure people quit all the time they can hire at the first step. But this also insures the general public never gets the best services because the workers never get trained well enough to know how to do their job. And it keeps the boss happy because most people won't figure out they don't have a clue how to run the department they have been placed in charge of. It would be nice if people would listen to people who try to let what's going on be heard instead of pushing them under a rug hiding what they say and let the games go on. Then you hear how bad things are and wonder why. Next time you see problems why don't you find the REAL PROBLEM instead of some scape goat who got fired to cover up the problem. It would be nice to see the smirk wiped off the bosses mouth and the workers to come out of their closets and smile again. Instead in most departments the only people who might see a smile is the general public from the workers who are told to be friendly while all the while in their break room they act and feel like a battered wife. I guess that's how things are done. I'm also told there is NOTHING THAT ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT. I suppose they are right. I guess I go back and crawl under my desk and smile at you when you come into my office. It's better than being unemployed. It sure would be nice if people would figure it all out though.

Oh well. It's on your dime. I know the workers can't change it.

Just another example of the "POLICIES AND CORRUPTION OF THE GEORGE W.RONG FOR AMERICA BUSH ADM.

AMERICA WILL FOREVER BE SORRY

The chinese governament is a paper tiger. They will implode due to aging population,Envoiranamental disaster,lack of water.They do have a huge trade surplus.With the decline of the dollar that surplus is also declining.
What we need to do is to make any trade with them subject to balance.They should only be able to export only against imports.Additionly any amount of money the PRC spends beyond their normal Defence needs should be offset by several times by their exports to the usa.
Our strength is in an open society,Top class industrial,Governament research,Top lass universities.
I am a refugee who was lucky to be a n naturalsed american citizen.I have been in the otherside of the ocean but i preffer the freedoms of my adopted country.

I question the accuracy of this post, by Allen. While I will give some lattitude for fast typing & misspellings, but to capitalize PRC and leave "my adopted country" in lower case, says to me, that, this post is phoney!

The chinese governament is a paper tiger. They will implode due to aging population,Envoiranamental disaster,lack of water.They do have a huge trade surplus.With the decline of the dollar that surplus is also declining.
What we need to do is to make any trade with them subject to balance.They should only be able to export only against imports.Additionly any amount of money the PRC spends beyond their normal Defence needs should be offset by several times by their exports to the usa.
Our strength is in an open society,Top class industrial,Governament research,Top lass universities.
I am a refugee who was lucky to be a n naturalsed american citizen.I have been in the otherside of the ocean but i preffer the freedoms of my adopted country.

Posted by: Allen | October 16, 2007 01:55 AM

This occurs ALL DAY EVERYDAY. The Justice Department needs to hire undercover agents to work in the contracting offices. They need to know what to look for. The Schedule C Political Appointees don't have a clue nor does the Head of the Contracting Activities.

KBR,Halliburton, Custer Battlefields, Blackwater,DynCorp International,USProtect....
They all have one thing in common. All were given sweetheart contracts without even submitting a bid to GSA. Maybe Dick Cheney should go on trial for Bribery and fixing so that Halliburton got all its contracts in Iraq and in New Orleans from GSA. But nobody wants to talk about putting the Vice Prseident on trial for corruption.

I agree with Jp. Vote for Ron Paul. He's the only one who can clean up this mess.

I work for GSA, and no, this most certainly does not happen "all day everyday" in our agency. You people are idiots. If you aren't a GSA CO, then shut up and go google your favorite conspiracy theory. Very few COs would risk taking more than $20.00 from a contractor without notifying their ethics officer. I am curious how Connie the Contractor knows that the problem was her "low rank", and knows if she were a "higher rank", she'd just go work for the contractor. That seems pretty stupid to me, since I actually work at the agency, and you don't. Almost everyone works within 3 grades. There aren't huge "ranking" differences within the agency. It's a professional organziation. Most people are 12s or 13s.

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