Misuse of Time and Resources within the Veterans Engineering Resource Center in Indianapolis, Indiana

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Administrative Investigations Division investigated an allegation that a Supervisory Industrial Engineer misused VA time and resources to start a privately-owned business and solicited subordinate staff to join this business. The OIG found that the Engineer, who worked within the Veterans Health Administration, Office of Strategic Integration, Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC), used a VA-assigned email account to communicate with subordinate staff, criticize the recent VERC restructuring, and propose they, as a team, use their experience to create a company that offered those services to outside organizations. The Engineer then created a company in the midst of discussions of potential layoffs within the VERC. The Engineer assumed the president position, and two other VERC employees became the director and treasurer. The OIG found they misused VA time and resources to conduct non-VA business during and after their official duty hours. The OIG also found that the company, at one point, consisted of up to 43 VA employees. Most of those employees have since left VA as their term appointments ended or were scheduled to end without extension. Further, the OIG found that the Engineer misused a VA-assigned email on several occasions to manage multiple personally-owned rental properties.