FBI Raids Washington DC Office of Chief Technology Officer

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The FBI appears to be making arrests in a massive bribery sting that may embroil a recent appointee in the Obama administration in a corruption scandal.  This morning, Yusuf Acar was dragged from his home in handcuffs.  Up until that point he was the highly paid Washington DC Information Systems Security Officer, or ISSO.  He reported directly to Vivek Kundra, the DC Chief Technology Officer, who had successfully managed the IT budget of the city and shepherded projects through to completion.  Kundra was tapped by Obama to be the Federal CTO mostly because he had the skills and know-how to do the job.

This is Vivek Kundra, Obama’s newest appointee. Will he be frogmarched next?

From ABC.com here:

Before the crack of dawn Thursday morning, more than a half-dozen cars and SUVs full of FBI agents pulled up to the northwest, Washington, DC, home of Yusuf Acar, the head of IT Technology in the Washington DC city government’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer.

The FBI agents, wearing bullet proof vests, presented a search warrant to Acar, handcuffed him and arrested him.  Also this morning, agents began searching the office of the Chief Technology Officer.

Vivek Kundra — who last week was appointed Chief Information Officer by the Obama administration — is Acar’s former boss, having served as the city’s Chief Technology Officer until early February.

The second arrest of an IT vendor who was awarded several lucrative city contracts hints at the scope of the bribery scheme.

From the WaPo here by way of HotAir:

Federal authorities this morning arrested a second person, Sushil Bansal, 41, of Fairfax County, in the sting operation. According to his company’s website, Bansal used to work in the D.C. government and later founded Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation, an information technology consulting firm based in the District. That company has several contracts with D.C. government agencies, including the technology office and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Last August, he was awarded the Association of Indians in America’s Entrepenuer of the Year Award.

In fact, the Newsroom page lists all awards from the OCTO:

• Washington, DC – August 11, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Association of Indians in America (Washington DC Chapter) selected Mr. Sushil Bansal for the Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
• Washington, DC – October 3, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Department of Motor Vehicles
• Washington, DC – Sep 9, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Government of the District of Columbia Office, awarded .Net Development Support Contract to AITC.
• Washington, DC – August 5, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Government of the District of Columbia, purchased McAfee Licenses from AITC.
• Washington, DC – June 5, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Government of the District of Columbia, awarded Peoplesoft Consulting Support Contract to AITC.
• Washington, DC – May 7, 2008 – AITC announced today that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Government of the District of Columbia Office, awarded an additional task order for Citywide IT Security (CWITS) Support to AITC.

Those are a lot of contracts awarded in a very short amount of time.  In government, you aren’t allowed to sole-source contracts to a single company.  You have to allow vendors to bid on the work and the government accepts, if not the lowest bidder, the company that provides the best value.  Didn’t anyone else bid on the contracts?  And given this large amount of awarded contracts, how could Vivek Kundra NOT know that something fishy was going on?  Ed Morrissey at HotAir predicts this guy will quit his new post in Obama’s government soon.  I think Ed’s right.  Either that or he will also get frogmarched out of the White House.