The OIG investigated allegations that a former National Park Service (NPS) contract specialist steered three contracts to a vendor because of a personal relationship.
We found that the contract specialist had a personal relationship with the vendor’s employees and attempted to influence contract awards by inappropriately advocating for the vendor, which violated Federal ethics regulations. We found, however, that the contract specialist ultimately had no influence over awarding contracts to the vendor and that the contracts were awarded properly. We also found that while the contract specialist managed the vendor’s contracts, he sought employment with the vendor for a family member, but the family member was never hired.
The contract specialist left the Department after learning of our investigation. We referred our findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, which declined prosecution.