On October 14, the outgoing Deputy Chief Procurement Officer at the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Susan Taylor, notified the VA that she is retiring following a report by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) alleging that she engaged in numerous counts of misconduct at the agency. Her notice comes a week after the newly-appointed Secretary of the VA, Robert McDonald, initiated termination proceedings against Taylor. Taylor, who managed $15 billion in VA contracts and is a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES), is eligible to retire from federal service and receive retirement benefits.
According to the summary of the OIG report that prompted her termination/resignation, Taylor “engaged in conduct prejudicial to the Government when she pressured contracting staff under her authority to give preference to and award a task order for reverse auction services to FedBid, Inc. (FedBid).” As the Federal Times notes, the VA’s Procurement and Logistics Office were instructed via repeated emails and requests in 2010 to award this task order despite the fact that the VA’s IT department was concurrently developing an in-house reverse auction solution.
The OIG report also alleges that Taylor “engaged in a conflict of interest when she improperly acted as an agent of FedBid in matters before the Government, improperly disclosed non-public VA information to unauthorized persons, [and] misused her position and VA resources for private gain.” It does not get better for Taylor, who then tried to terminate a whistleblower who had learned of her misconduct. Taylor also tried to smear the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Acquisition and Logistics, Jan Frye, who had placed a moratorium on all reverse auctions being conducted via FedBid. Frye had received complaints from VA suppliers who were being instructed to use FedBid over VA systems to perform “inherently governmental work,” and he wanted to review VA policy to ensure that all parties were not running afoul of regulations.
Taylor also allegedly interfered with the OIG’s investigation into the task order concerning FedBid, claiming “that she did not testify freely and honestly concerning her involvement in the solicitation and award of the task order to FedBid, as well as other matters.” In an interview she gave to the Washington Post, Taylor claims that the OIG’s report contains many errors, and that using FedBid actually saved the VA $65 million over two years. Regardless, the OIG has referred Taylor’s case to the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecution, although they have declined to prosecute her.
To replace Taylor, the VA has appointed Ricky Lemmon, Director of the VA’s Service Area Office Central, as the Acting Deputy Procurement and Logistics Officer.
The VA procurement scandal is the latest to hit the embattled agency. Earlier this year, revelations surfaced that senior VA hospital administrators covered up wait times for veterans seeking care. Administrators would publically disclose one list of veterans seeking care but privately maintain another, longer list. The scandal saw the VA Secretary resign in May, legislation be enacted in August, and termination proceedings be initiated against those responsible in October.
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