Follow-up to Article on Relationships of Contracting Officials

We have posted a better link to last Friday's featured Washington Post article. Following the links there leads to associated items, including a timeline and the transcript of a lively on-line discussion with the author of the article that includes this interchange:

[End of a long reader comment]: Please, authors, comment on the fact as Acquisitions officials we have mandatory ethics training every 12 months. In addition we have mandatory financial reporting on an annual basis. We are bombarded with the ethical code at every training. The fact the CO never saw the ethical line that was crossed is absolute malarkey. I know the line. I choose to not cross it.

Robert O'Harrow Jr.: Thank you for your thoughtful remarks. We have heard such frustration and concerns many times over the last several years, while focusing much attention on federal contracting. The legal and ethical lines are drawn a lot more clearly in regulations and law than some people seem to realize. It's important to note that the procurement system is under a great deal of stress because of the surge in outsourcing. We have found that contracting officials are often overwhelmed by the workload.