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DC Fires Tech Contractors, Puts Employees On Leave
theodp writes "After Gov. Tim Kaine intervened on his behalf, Vivek Kundra was quietly reinstated to his Federal CIO post on Tuesday after a brief leave following an FBI raid on Kundra's former DC office (Kundra was not implicated). Now, the Washington Post reports that the City of DC plans to fire 23 Technology Office contractors and place 4 employees on leave in the aftermath of the arrests of a Security manager and contractor on bribery charges last week. Another government employee has since been arrested for his role in the scam, and the mayor has promised that the tech office will undergo a 'full and formal review.'"
It's really a shame that the U.S. government can't just annex DC and treat it as a federal protectorate. Treating it like a real city with a whole set of councilmen and a mayor just gives the mentally defective permanent residents of the city too much power to vote in corrupt government officials to rule over them.
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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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Really? That sucks!
There's going to be a lot more layoffs in the next couple of months. The worst isn't over.
"Sushil Bansal, the contractor who owns Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation."
"Seventeen of the contractors work for AITC"
That's where the problems lies - a contractor hiring other contractors through his own company. Interferes with the proper chain of management and encourages bad practices and fraud.
Last year recently turned down a contract at a very large supplier to a UK government agency in part because I was being compelled to work through the company owned by one of the other contractors on the project. From colleagues on the project I heard that the guy was a hard task master and never allowed his team to engage in any upfront design work. Of course they did what he asked because he was paying them directly, when they should have acted more professionally and insisted on some proper design work.
A year later - he's been let go, not sure what's happened to the people who worked through him - and the project is collapsing.
With a massive scandal like this, if he wasn't involved and didn't know he couldn't have been all that involved with his office.
He stole some dress shirts from JC Penney for a total of $134. He was 21 at the time. Youthful and dumb not an extortionist like Blago.
And I don't see how what Kundra did at 21 really makes Obama like Blago either. Or are you suggesting that Obama chose him for his sterling petty thievery skills? Awesome, we should send him to every JC Penney around the world to steal shirts. That will fix the economy.
Not saying we shouldn't hit Obama, but this seems pretty small next to everything else going on. Why smokescreen good questions with stuff like this? The RIAA has some control within the DoJ and you're worried about what Kundra did at 21? Obama needs dissent thrown his way, but can we at least make sure that what we're screaming is really important?
We've got four basic possibilities here:
1. Kundra was actively involved in the fraud.
2. Kundra knew about the fraud and did nothing about it.
3. Kundra didn't know about the fraud.
4. Kundra knew about the fraud and reported it to police.
We know the fourth isn't true - the investigation was started when they tried to bribe a contractor.
The first two mean that Kundra is corrupt and not fit for office. The third means that Kundra is incompetent and not fit for office.
Since we've eliminated the fourth possibility, all the remaining possibilities mean that Kundra is not fit for office.
I do agree with your assessment.
Something was seriously wrong in that office and for Kundra to not be a participant or not even know leaves me wondering why he is still going to hold a position in President Obama's administration. Obama's vetting process sucks to say the least, worse is the pass too many get in the press till the vast right wing conspiracy stirs up enough dust on radio to force the printed press to jump
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This story falls in line with my experience working in the Commonwealth of VA. Which is: Local sub getting defrauded on state and local government projects by out of state corporation under the protection of state government employees. I had this happen twice to the company I worked at within a year, and I cannot say how happy I am to be out of there. I am still in awe about the widespread incompetence, opportunism and evil intent in that part of the country.
Advise: When representatives of the Attorney General's office are running coverup campaigns - including desperate meetings on a sidewalk of your state capital - it is time to look for a new job.
He stole some dress shirts from JC Penney for a total of $134. He was 21 at the time. Youthful and dumb not an extortionist like Blago.
And I don't see how what Kundra did at 21 really makes Obama like Blago either. Or are you suggesting that Obama chose him for his sterling petty thievery skills? Awesome, we should send him to every JC Penney around the world to steal shirts. That will fix the economy.
Not saying we shouldn't hit Obama, but this seems pretty small next to everything else going on. Why smokescreen good questions with stuff like this? The RIAA has some control within the DoJ and you're worried about what Kundra did at 21? Obama needs dissent thrown his way, but can we at least make sure that what we're screaming is really important?
21 is an adult.
So, do you really think an adult who thinks it's OK to steal belongs in government? Because he sure as shit thought laws didn't apply to him when he was 21. What lesson did he learn from that? "Don't steal", or "Don't get caught"? Given the pattern of Kundra's life, my bet is on "Don't get caught".
Age 21: Kundra busted for shoplifting
Age ?: Entire office Kundra led busted for corruption, Kundra "not implicated"
Sure looks like the lesson he learned from that shoplifting conviction was "Don't get caught".
As for why this is important, it looks to be an Obama pattern: incompetence. From putting a tax cheat in charge of the IRS to going through two failed Commerce Secretaries to all but creating international incidents by flubbing receptions with visiting heads of state to making fun of the Special Olympics to having aides say he's "too busy" to deal with international relations, Obama's demonstrating a run of utter incompetence.
And Kundra's another example.
Good God, can you imagine the 500+ "Bush is teh evil!!!!" me-too posts this topic would have generated if Bush had done just ONE of those blunders? Much less ALL of them in a just a few weeks?
I am contracting at a major Canadian bank. The Sr. VP and CIO of the company have no clue that than an AVP has a brother who owns a placement/contracting firm. I am the only guy on that development project who hasn't come from that agency. I am kept around as exihbit A , to be paraded whenever someone begins to get curious about this department's hiring policy. I dont piss off the AVP and my contract gets renewed every six months.
My point is that hiring process is inherently corruptible and dumb. I am glad at least somebody is getting his just desserts.
I wonder is other Slashdotters from Toronto have faced similar situation elsewhere.
In my experience, when someone says its 'XXX political party' thats the problem, they don't have a clue.
People are stupid. They think the sports team, errr, political party ... they are cheering for is somehow different than all the rest.
As soon as someone says 'the democrats' or 'the republicans' then you can safely assume their opinion is for all intents and purposes, worthless as they are more concerned with 'team pride' than the actual matters at hand. And that my friend is why the goverment is like it is today. Everyone votes for 'their team' regardless of their core beliefs.
If you watch older people they actually get to the point where they are so 'into their team' that they will change their values based on what some politician says. Its ridiculous.
What bothers me most is that so many 'educated' or 'intelligent' people, like here on slashdot, do this same shit.
I have a hard time arguing against an Orwellian state considering the amazing amount of stupidity people demonstrate when allowed to make their own decisions regarding the government.
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I would say that I would have to fire just about every single IT manager I have worked for in the last 20 years if I was a CEO. Kickbacks, favors
etc are a huge problem in every IT organization I have ever been in. If I am ever find myself to be in a position as CEO I would imagine
I would be firing quite a few IT managers. I would have a few rather simple rules, a vendor comes to your office for a meeting, no outside
the office meetings etc. If given anything of value of more than 1 dollar you shall return it, in the event I find out that you did not, it
will result in immediate on the spot termination. Not having at least three competing bids on any capital expenditure exceeding $2000(and I mean all, OS, word processors, software, consultants etc)
would result in termination. Names and addresses of competing bid vendors would be required for all purchases(used for follow up conversation).
Stealing at the age of 21 can't be called youthful dumbness. He is a grown up ass at age 21. May be stealing at age less than 15 to 17 could be called youthful dumbness. If at age 21 he can't differentiate between right and wrong, he is not fit for office.
-ItsME
I do understand the whole "taxation without representation" problem there, but I've always thought that D.C. folks were trying to resolve that in totally the wrong direction.
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I can confirm that; my experiences in three Asian nations also had to incorporate bribery as a way of life. I think may of our corporate chieftains revel in offshoring to those nations for exactly that reason, in fact; becoming a wheel offshore is personally very lucrative.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"