IG finds service has improved buying efforts

The Defense Department's inspector general has found that the Interior Department’s assisted acquisition services center has  “significantly improved its processes” for handling contract work for DOD, according to a new audit. Interior’s Acquisition Services Directorate in Herdon, Va., formerly known as GovWorks, has fixed its internal controls, Richard Jolliffe, DOD's assistant inspector general for acquisition and contract management, wrote in a report issued Aug. 18. “Specifically, [the directorate] no longer bills DOD in advance and no longer uses expired funds for purchase,” Jolliffe wrote. In 2007, the directorate found itself without business from its biggest customer, DOD. An IG audit revealed numerous problems as the directorate assisted DOD with its purchases. For example, the directorate used expired funds for purchases and didn't follow other DOD-specific acquisition regulations. As a result, Shay Assad, director of Defense procurement and acquisition policy at DOD, restricted the department from work with the directorate in May 2007. Nearly a year later, in March 2008, Assad lifted the restriction after DOD IG Claude Kicklighter recommended he lift it because a series of IG audits showed improvements in the program.