September 17, 2008 – Members of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General leadership made presentations to the National Procurement Fraud Conference held recently in Richmond, VA. 

Ms. Mary Ugone, Deputy Inspector General for Auditing, and Mr. Charles Beardall, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, provided a joint presentation focused on predicting fraudulent activities, and highlighting successful fraud prosecutions and the lessons learned as to internal controls.

Over 500 professionals from the investigative, audit, law enforcement, acquisition, and legal communities attended the sold out conference, which was the first-ever nation-wide event of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force.  The conference, held September 9 – 11, 2008, was co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice; the Office of Inspectors General from the Departments of Defense, Education, and Interior; the Environmental Protection Agency; the General Services Administration; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The purpose of the conference was to help develop closer working relationships among those agencies and bolster efforts aimed at the detection and prevention of procurement fraud in the federal government.

Other senior DoD IG representatives also made presentations at the conference. Mr. Scott Grady, Audit Project Manager, and Special Agent Dan Boucek of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), teamed to described how auditors and investigators worked together to identify and prosecute significant health care fraud in DoD.  In addition, Special Agent in Charge Jim Ives of the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office described how teamwork is used to provide effective computer forensic support.