IEC Journal

Organizational Conflicts of Interest

The Washington Post has a story about organizational conflicts of interest. Here's an exceprt:

The case offers a rare glimpse at one of the consequences of the government's unprecedented reliance on contractors to help federal agencies: Consultants sometimes gain insider knowledge and help draft rules that could benefit their own bottom lines, procurement specialists said.

Because the acquisition workforce has not kept pace with the massive expansion of outsourcing in recent years, such conflicts rarely come to light. When they do, the government often is not able to address the problems, specialists said.

"This is the top of the iceberg," said Daniel Guttman, a procurement specialist at Johns Hopkins University who brought the case to the government's attention. "The government has basically never publicly reviewed whether the conflict of interests rules work. They don't."

Thanks to Ellen Peterson for drawing this story to our attention and Eric Rishel for highlighting its significance.

Court of Claims finds DAEO determination arbitrary and capricious in excluding contract bidder

Court of Federal Claims found DAEO determination that contractor must be excluded from bid on contract because former employee had a post-government employment restriction was arbitrary and capricious.  See CNA Corp. v. US, No. 08-249C, 81 Fed. Cl. 722 (Apr. 30, 2008). 

Subsequent CFC post-award bid protest order goes into addition details.  See Download cfc_decision1.pdf

DOI Ten Point Ethics Plan

Incoming agency heads in some other agencies might get some useful ideas from the ten point list at the end of a Department of the Interior memo posted at the PEER web site.

OGE Web Site Upgrade

The OGE web site has undergone a significant upgrade. It appears to be a tremendous improvement, both substantive and esthetic.  Among the many enhancements:

1. Deletion of the initial warning banner. These are essential for private agency networks, but the omission from its site brings OGE in line with other federal agencies that find this unnecessary on sites intended to be publicly-accessible.
2. The site uses a blog-type approach to archiving old announcements that makes them more accessible, plus a more efficient way of letting users choose between downloading formats.

One possible additonal improvement: Unlock the font sizes, so that viewers have the option to select a larger font in their browsers. Older users may particularly appreciate this.

Former interior employee pleads guilty to COI

Senior official getting ready to retire explored ways he could return to work for the Department of Interior after retirement as a consultant, including drafting the statement of work for the consultancy.  See http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/July/08-crm-672.html

OGE Conference Hotel Deadline

The stated deadline for reserving rooms at the Rosen Center Hotel (reviews here) is Friday, August 15 at 5:00 P.M. To obtain the conference rate, mention when calling the reservation number (800-204-7234) that you are attending the 16th National Government Ethics Conference. The hotel offers the conference rate for three days before and three days after the Conference. The OGE web site has more information about the conference.

VA OIG & Legal Times Lead Way on RSS Feeds

RSS adoption continues to increase in popularity. The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General web site includes a good explanation of RSS feeds, as well as links to explanations of how to use them generally and with the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Announcements of audits and reports are a great use for RSS, and the VA OIG deserves credit for making its information accessible to the public in this manner.

Law.com has a number of RSS feeds (including one for job announcements), and even provides a free RSS reader configured to pick up the most popular ones.

As noted previously, RSS feeds are the most convenient way to keep up with frequently-updated web sites that have adopted this new technology, including the IEC Journal. While dedicated RSS readers are probably more powerful than browser-based RSS access, browser-based access is better than no RSS access.

USDA Ethics Office vacancies

The USDA Ethics Office has several openings listed on USA Jobs. Once under Department of Agriculture, interested parties can search "office of ethics." http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/jobsearch.asp?q=%22office+of+ethics%22&salmin=&salmax=&paygrademin=&paygrademax=&FedEmp=N&tm=&sort=rv&vw=d&brd=3876&ss=0&FedPub=Y&SUBMIT1.x=0&SUBMIT1.y=0

• GS 7/8/9 Assistants-6 openings [closes August 25-governmentwide]
• GS-13 Specialists-2 openings [closes August 25-all sources & competitive]
• GS-14 Supervisory Ethics Specialist [Forestry Branch]-1 opening [closes August 26-all sources & competitive]
• GS-14 Senior Ethics Specialist-1 opening [closes August 26-all sources & competitive]

Hatch Act A Mystery To Some

Fedblog's Tom Shoop reports on three Michigan mail carriers discovered to hold simultaneous local elected government offices:

One of the officials, Tresha Graham-Mikek, a rural letter carrier, has been in office as Bethany Township clerk for 12 years. "I don't know what putting letters in mailboxes has to do with being a township clerk," she told the paper. "I've been a carrier for 23 years and the clerk for 12, and it's never been an issue. But the law is the law, and I understand that."

Attending Political Conventions

A useful July 29, 2008 memo on the topic "Attending Events at National Conventions" is attached.