While there may be proper justification for their post- government employment with a contractor, on the basis of this sample we  estimate that at least 422 individuals could have been working on defense  contracts directly related to their former DOD agency and we estimate at  least nine could have been working on the same defense contracts for  which they had program oversight responsibilities or decision-making  authorities while at DOD. Appendix III presents more  detail on the employment of former DOD senior and acquisition officials in  2006 for each of the 52 contractors. In  addition, most of the former DOD officials employed by the contractors in  2006 had previously served in positions at the Air Force and Navy,  followed by those who had previously served in Army positions. Estimates Are That Many Former DOD Officials Could Have Worked on Contracts Related to Their Prior DOD Agencies and a Few Could Have Worked on Contracts Related to Their Prior Direct Responsibilities

To provide information about former DOD officials work assignments with  contractors, we analyzed job histories and work assignments for a  stratified random sample of former DOD officials to determine if these  individuals worked on defense contracts or programs for which they had  direct responsibility at DOD or which were the responsibility of their  former DOD agency, office, or command. Contractors Report Using a Range of Practices to Ensure Compliance with Post-Government Employment Restrictions, but Face Challenges in Providing Information for Monitoring Such Employment

Most of the 47 major defense contractors who responded to our survey on  practices related to post-government employment report using a range of  techniques to ensure awareness of and employee compliance with  restrictions, although we found contractors were challenged to provide  accurate information identifying their former DOD officials. Specifically, our  analysis of the status of major defense contractors’ employment of former  DOD officials in 2006, which was based on matching contractor-supplied  information with DOD personnel data, found that the contractors  employed a total of 1,263 former DOD senior and acquisition officials,  while our match of IRS information and DOD personnel data showed the  contractors employed a total of 2,435 former DOD officials, or almost  twice as many. As noted earlier in this report, contractors are not required to keep copies  of these letters. Nonetheless, for DOD’s purposes, ethics advisory opinions may now be  more readily available and centrally located because of the 2008 defense  authorization act provision that requires former officials to obtain written  ethics opinions on applicable post-government employment restrictions  from their DOD ethics officials before accepting compensation from  defense contractors for a period of 2 years after leaving DOD service. In response, our report objectives were to                (1) develop information on how many former DOD military and civilian  personnel recently worked for major defense contractors and develop an  estimate of how many of these were former DOD senior or acquisition  officials who worked on defense contracts for these employers that were  related to their former positions at DOD and (2) identify the practices used  to monitor compliance with post-government employment restrictions and  the information challenges that contractors and DOD face in monitoring  the movement of former DOD employees to defense contractors. Recognizing that the contractors responding to our survey were self- reporting on a sensitive issue, the information sought from contractors  was not designed or expected to identify specific violations of post- government employment restrictions. We analyzed responses from the 47 contractors who  responded to the survey.
Why GAO Did This Study

Department of Defense (DOD) officials who serve in senior and acquisition positions and then leave for jobs with defense contractors are subject to the restrictions of post-government employment laws, in order to protect against conflicts of interest. Congress required GAO to report on employment of such officials by contractors who received more than $500 million in DOD's 2005 contract awards. In response, this report (1) provides information on how many former DOD employees worked for contractors in 2006 and estimates how many worked on contracts that were related to their former agencies or to their direct responsibilities and (2) identifies the practices used to monitor restrictions and information challenges in monitoring post-DOD employment. To do this work, GAO matched data from DOD for all employees who left DOD over a 6 year period with data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and from 52 contractors; conducted surveys; and interviewed DOD and contractor officials.

What GAO Found

In 2006, 52 contractors employed 2,435 former DOD senior and acquisition officials who had previously served as generals, admirals, senior executives, program managers, contracting officers, or in other acquisition positions which made them subject to restrictions on their post-DOD employment. Most of the 2,435 former DOD officials were employed by seven contractors. On the basis of a stratified random sample of contractor-supplied information, GAO estimates that at least 422 former DOD officials could have worked on defense contracts related to their former agencies and that at least nine could have worked on the same contracts for which they had oversight responsibilities or decision-making authorities while at DOD. The information GAO obtained from contractors was not designed to identify violations of the restrictions. While contractors could have employed quite a few former DOD officials on assignments related to their prior DOD positions, there could be appropriate justification for each of these situations. Most of the contractors who responded to our survey reported using a range of practices to ensure awareness and compliance with post-government employment restrictions, although GAO's request proved challenging for contractors to provide accurate information identifying their former DOD officials. According to the surveyed contractors, they can identify former DOD officials with post-government employment restrictions and track their assignments during their cooling-off periods. However, GAO's analysis found a significant under-reporting of the contractors' employment of former DOD officials. Specifically, contractor-supplied data showed they employed 1,263 former DOD officials in 2006, while IRS data showed the contractors employed 2,435. New post-government employment requirements enacted in January 2008 are likely to make written ethics opinions for former DOD officials more readily available to contractors. DOD also must now keep ethics opinions in a central database. This information was not designed to provide a mechanism for DOD to effectively monitor former DOD officials' post-government employment compliance after they begin working for contractors on specific contracts.