“CMS allowed a subcontractor individual to perform inherently governmental functions, such as making managerial decisions and directing CMS employees,” the inspector general wrote in the 70-page report. The inspector general’s report outlines how Verma relied on the politically connected contractors instead of the agency’s career civil servants for communications work. Those include determining whether any other HHS contractors or subcontractors are performing inherently government functions and whether any CMS service contracts are being administered as personal-services contracts. “The OIG’s incomplete analysis is only compounded by their choice in timing for releasing such a report,” Verma wrote. Stevens, who charged the government at a rate of $310 an hour for her CMS work, has specialized for many years in promoting Republican women.

Source: Washington Post July 16, 2020 17:44 UTC