The State Department has no idea what happened to $6 billion used to pay its contractors.
In a special management alert made public Thursday, the State Departments Inspector General Steve Linick warned significant financial risk and a lack of internal control at the department has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years.
The alert was just the latest example of the federal governments continued struggle with oversight over its outside contractors.
Related link: Government Blatantly Wastes $30 Billion This Year
lack of oversight exposes the department to significant financial risk, the auditor said. It creates conditions conducive to fraud, as corrupt individuals may attempt to conceal evidence of illicit behavior by omitting key documents from the contract file. It impairs the ability of the Department to take effective and timely action to protect its interests, and, in tum, those of taxpayers.
In the memo, the IG detailed repeated examples of poor contract file administration. For instance, a recent investigation of the closeout process for contracts supporting the mission in Iraq, showed that auditors couldn't find 33 of the 115 contract files totaling about $2.1 billion. Of the remaining 82 files, auditors said 48 contained insufficient documents required by federal law.
In another instance, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement issued a $1 billion contract in Afghanistan that was deemed incomplete.
Related LINK: Government Wastes More Money Than You Think
The auditor recommended that the State Department establish a centralized system to track, maintain and retain contract files. The department responded and said it concurred with the recommendations to address the vulnerability in its contracting process.
Before Linick took office last fall, the State Department had been without an inspector general position for five yearsthe longest IG vacancy in the governments history, as noted in The Washington Post.
Top Reads Linked from The Fiscal Times: Holder and Mueller Spent $7.8 Million on Personal Travel Hospitals Plot the End of Insurance Companies High Tax States Are Losing Billions
2 billion from 6 billion, that can;t be right, no government program is over 30% efficient...