Violations Alleged in Payments to Consultant Who Worked for Foulke
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General issued a tough report March 31 about OSHA's management of its Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP), but that wasn't the only important DOL OIG audit released that day. The Washington Post and OSHA Underground have reported on a second March 31 audit that says OSHA circumvented federal and DOL procurement requirements when it paid $681,379 to a contractor during the tenure of Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke Jr., who left the agency last November to join a law firm. The money went to Global Management Systems, Inc. and Randy Kimlin via a Blanket Purchase Agreement awarded by the Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management to fulfill a request by Foulke, the audit's summary states.
The money was billed from April 2006 through July 2008 for Kimlin's time and travel. OSHA "did not have proper documentation to approve invoices submitted by GMSI for Mr. Kimlin's consulting services," and "OSHA allowed GMSI to invoice more hours than awarded for Mr. Kimlin and approved unallowable travel expenses incurred by Mr. Kimlin while commuting between his home in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., in violation of the terms of the BPA," according to the summary, which adds that OSHA could not provide products or deliverables produced by Kimlin or independent records to support the labor hours he charged.
GMSI's headquarters are located at 2201 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 300, in Washington, D.C. The company describes itself this way: "Founded in 1988, privately-held Global Management Systems, Inc. has grown to become an information technology (IT) industry leader in delivering integrated high quality LAN infrastructure, network engineering, help desk, operational, and configuration management solutions to civilian and defense agency Federal Government customers."
The OIG's Office of Inspections and Special Investigations is investigating the contract's oversight and has yet to provide results to the current OSHA leader, Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald G. Shalhoub. His response to the draft report was that he does not fully agree with the OIG's recommendation that OSHA should recover all of the money paid to GMSI related to Kimlin's work and will make a final response after the investigation is completed. Shalhoub agreed $95,658 in travel expenses were not allowed by the BPA and said OSHA will seek to recover that money, according to the audit report.