OCTOBER 4, 2015 |
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Musical Chairs at
the VA |
Hour 1 |
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Hour 2 |
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Report from the VA Office of the Inspector General's office - Philly
VA |
Inappropriate Use of Position
and Misuse of Relocation Program and Incentives |
OIG Report Summary |
Ms. Diana Rubens was
reassigned from her position as Deputy Under Secretary for Field
Operations to the position of Director, Philadelphia and Wilmington
VA Regional Offices (VAROs)1, effective June 1, 2014. VA paid
$274,019.12 related to Ms. Rubens’ Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
move. Although we determined the PCS relocation expenses paid for
Ms. Rubens’ move were generally allowable under Federal and VA
policy, we found that Ms. Rubens inappropriately used her position
of authority for personal and financial benefit when she
participated personally and substantially in creating the
Philadelphia VARO vacancy and then volunteering for the vacancy.
Ms. Rubens told us she expressed an interest in replacing the former
Philadelphia VARO Director when he retired in December 2011. In
March 2014, she informed the Under Secretary for Benefits of her
“desire to take advantage of the Philly Director opening” for
herself, and the Under Secretary assured her that she would “be all
in to help and make it happen.” We also identified issues related to
Ms. Rubens’ PCS move. Specifically, we identified issues with the
timeliness of VA’s approval of Ms. Rubens’ participation in the
Appraised Value Offer (AVO) program, as well as a 17−day extension
for temporary quarters subsistence expense (TQSE) allowance. In
addition, Ms. Rubens claimed and was reimbursed $76.50 for alcoholic
beverages, which is prohibited, and $47 for meal and tip expenses
that were not supported by required receipts.
As part of our assessment of VA’s relocation expense program (PCS
program), we reviewed records related to the Veterans Benefits
Administration’s (VBA) reassignment of 7 General Schedule (GS) Grade
15 employees who were promoted to Senior Executive Service (SES)
positions and 15 SES employees who moved to different SES positions
in fiscal years (FYs) 2013, 2014, and 2015. VBA management used
moves of senior executives as a method to justify annual salary
increases and used VA’s PCS program to pay moving expenses for these
employees. Annual salary increases totaled about $321,000, and PCS
relocation expenses totaled about $1.3 million. Additionally, VBA
paid $140,000 in unjustified relocation incentives. In total, VA
spent about $1.8 million on the reassignments. While we do not
question the need to reassign some staff to manage a national
network of VAROs, we concluded that VBA inappropriately utilized
VA’s PCS program for the benefit of its SES workforce.
Ms. Kimberly Graves was reassigned from her position as the Director
of VBA’s Eastern Area Office to the position of Director, St. Paul
VARO, effective October 19, 2014. VA paid $129,467.56 related to Ms.
Graves’ PCS move. We determined that Ms. Graves also inappropriately
used her position of authority for personal and financial benefit
when she participated personally and substantially in creating the
St. Paul VARO vacancy and then volunteering for the vacancy.
Mr. Antione Waller, former St. Paul VARO Director, told us Ms.
Graves initiated discussion with him about relocating to the
Philadelphia VARO. Once he expressed a willingness to accept the
reassignment, she did an apparent “bait and switch.” She told him
that the Philadelphia position was no longer available and he would
be considered for the Baltimore VARO Director position. When he said
he was not willing to move to Baltimore, Ms. Graves told him, “you
will probably get another call, this probably won’t be the last
conversation about Baltimore.” In an email, Ms. Beth McCoy, who at
the time was the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Field
Operations and Ms. Rubens’ subordinate, told Ms. Graves that she
spoke to Mr. Waller and told him his name was already submitted to
the VA Secretary for Baltimore, so “saying no now is not a clean or
easy option.” Once the St. Paul Director position was vacant, Ms.
Graves said she contacted Ms. Rubens and said, “I’d like to throw my
name in for consideration for St. Paul … I feel like I’ve done my
time and I’d like to put my name in.”
Ms. Rubens’ and Ms. Graves’ reassignments resulted in a significant
decrease in job responsibilities, yet both retained their annual
salaries—$181,497 and $173,949, respectively. Based on Federal
regulations, we determined VA could not reduce their annual salaries
upon reassignment despite the decrease in the scope of their
responsibilities. However, a senior executive’s annual salary can be
reduced if the individual receives a less than fully successful
annual summary rating, fails to meet performance requirements for a
critical element, or, as a disciplinary or adverse action resulting
from conduct related activity. |
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We made criminal
referrals to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia,
regarding official actions orchestrated by Ms. Rubens and Ms.
Graves. Formal decisions regarding prosecutorial merit are pending.
We provided 12 recommendations to VA to increase oversight of VA’s
PCS program and to determine the appropriate administrative actions
to take, if any, against senior VBA officials. |
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