Dirty contracts

Contract and procurement fraud, collusion and corruption can rob profits from victims. Bid riggers conspire to eliminate fair and open competition and allow some to monopolize industries. Here’s some help in detecting common contract and procurement fraud schemes, and improving the integrity of the contract-award process.

I once reviewed a U.S. federal contract file that showed the Department of Defense (DoD) had awarded a contract to a small business that I’ll call Company A. This was the first federal contract that Company A had ever received. In fact, the file included printed emails that indicated the government contracting officer had helped the company owner become a federal contractor and taught him how to submit its bid proposal.

But other witnesses told me that after the contract was awarded, Company A didn’t actually perform any of the work on the contract. Instead, the company subcontracted out 100 percent of the job to another company that wasn’t an approved government contractor.