Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Director Gordon Hartogensis on Dec. 9 released PBGC management’s response to a PBGC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit of the agency’s procurement activities.
Hartogensis requested the audit after learning that in May, former PBGC Director of Procurement Jeffrey Donahue admitted to conspiracy to bribe a public official, a charge related to actions that took place in 2015 and 2016. “Fraud, abuse, and any other illegal and unethical behaviors or actions have no place in federal government operations,” he wrote in a Dec. 3 letter to Acting Inspector General Nick Novak.
Hartogensis told Novak that the PBGC management concurs with the OIG findings and recommendations on internal controls and said that the PBGC is “fully committed” to addressing the issues the OIG raised in the report. He adds that he has directed the Office of Management and Administration and the OGC to develop a priority action plan for his approval that addresses the recommendations in the OIG’s report.
Hartogensis outlined steps the PBGC has taken:
- revising acquisition procedures put in place for the Procurement Department; and
- changing the thresholds for the Office of General Counsel review of procurement actions.
He also reports that the following actions must now be sent to OGC for review:
- all contracts exceeding the micro-purchase threshold of $10,000 (prior threshold was $200,000); and
- all contract modifications, except for:
- $0 modifications; and
- straightforward option exercises that do not make any other changes to the original contract.
Hartogensis hailed the OIG’s efforts, writing that he commends them for their work to “identify weaknesses, vulnerabilities, or systemic issues that may have facilitated or allowed illegal Procurement Department contract steering to occur” and adding that he values what the OIG’s help “in improving PBGC’s ability to carry out its critical mission.”
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