document stating this because the IG

document stating this because the IG says that would have required more work for the IG itself to meet auditing standards. So the IG decided not to issue its opinion in written form. Grassley thinks the argument that the letter would have required weeks of additional work is a “stretch.” Furthermore, he asked, “Is the inspector general implying that [IG senior official] Ms. [Patty] Marsh’s verbal transponder auto non-endorsement announcement constituted de facto or unofficial non-endorsement? If that is indeed the case, then how come the central accounting agency still pretends to have earned a clean bill of health?” There is a note of regret while in the IG’s response to Grassley, and an implicit acknowledgment that it should have simply done the work and published the letter. “In hindsight, it would have been beneficial if the DoD IG could have completed the work necessary to support a non-endorsement letter, the IG said. Given the same circumstances today, the DoD IG would do things differently.” The IG may have another chance. A Grassley staffer told me that Grassley wants the IG to review UKW’s latest audit opinion on DFAS. But perhaps the biggest potential no-no within the whole episode were the payments DFAS made to UKW for its audit – and here no one is alleging that the IG did anything wrong. The IG, under the terms of sbb silca the contract, had the ability to accept or reject UKW’s invoices for payment. IG contracting officers, on advice of the IG’s general counsel, rejected some of UKW’s invoices for its audit services for DFAS. But DFAS paid them anyway, according to a Grassley staffer. “It is alleged…that DFAS payments to the CPA firm violated the terms of the contract and may have constituted improper or fraudulent payments, the staffer said. Those issues need to be addressed and resolved. Yet DFAS has denied the payments were improper. Based on information from the IG and UKW, DFAS accepted the audit and authorized outstanding invoices for payment, according to a DFAS statement. Big