Beth Tucker, deputy IRS commissioner for operations support, changed course from her previous statements and said her procurement team will likely cancel the part of a large software contract destined for Strong Castle/Signet Computers. The move comes on the heels of new information uncovered by congressional investigators detailing false statements about the friendship between the company's CEO and Gregory Roseman, recently relieved of his post as deputy director of IRS Enterprise Networks and Tier Systems Support.
Strong Castle chief executive Braulio Castillo and Roseman exchanged at least 350 text messages that agency supervisors and lawmakers called "offensive and unprofessional" including the use of anti-gay slurs against IRS colleagues. Castillo stands accused of making false statements about having a physical disability and the qualifications of his firm.
Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., released a report on the panel's three-month finding that Castillo's company had only $250,000 in annual revenue, but that his personal relationship with Roseman -- they were college roommates -- "facilitated" consideration for contracts worth up to $500 million in just six months. It also found that Strong Castle/Signet Computers "gained an advantage over competitors by gaining a socioeconomic HUBzone business designation by making false representations to the Small Business Administration.
Issa's investigators said the company hired mostly Catholic University students to round out its roster and falsely dubbed more senior employees who lived in other areas as "consultants" so that they would not harm the 35 percent employee threshold minimum. They found the company had opened a new "headquarters" office in Leesburg, Va., but also opened a small office in Chinatown that it said was its "principal office."
Castillo is also said to have represented his military prep school experience as military service and to have cited a 27-year-old college football injury to his foot as qualifying him as a contractor with a disability.
"Today, the IRS cannot look taxpayers in the eye and truthfully say they are protecting their contributions to government," Issa said, adding that the agency and Strong Castle "have made a mockery of fair and open competition for government contracts."
Issa said the conduct "exposes a staggering vulnerability in the IRS acquisition process that, frankly, begs the question of whether we can afford to have the agency implement Obamacare," noting that the agency's recent budget request for 2,000 new employees would cost $500 million.
Roseman invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and did not answer questions other than to confirm his previous title at IRS.
Castillo testified that he "never received any preferential treatment" and "competed fairly for every contract received" while also making a "meaningful contribution to the IRS," with whom he has worked, he said, for 15 years. He said he worked for the contractors with guidance from the Small Business Administration, and that he has cooperated with the investigation.
"We are now taking steps to sever IRS from any ongoing business relationship with Strong Castle," Beth Tucker said, adding that she is conducting a "top to bottom review" of her unit's business practices and staffing and has asked the Treasury Department to more deeply review IRS set-aside programs for helping small businesses. Treasury in 2012 named Strong Castle/Signet Computers as Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year, a decision, Tucker stressed, that the IRS was not involved in.
Source: NAGC
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educational and should not be considered legal advice on any specific matter.
