The Office of Investigations is tasked with performing investigations regarding abuses involving GSA programs and employees. These investigations may be criminal, civil and/or administrative in nature. Frequently they involve complex "white collar" criminal schemes involving fraud. They can also involve threats, thefts, forgeries, extortion, embezzlements, or assaults.   

Our investigations are often worked in conjunction with other agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Defense Criminal Investigative Service, other Office of Inspectors General, and military criminal investigative organizations.  Such task forces are utilized to maximize effort and return while minimizing expense. Enforcement activities can include professional interviews to undercover operations, surveillances and multi-day searches and seizures. 

Investigations may be the result of a complaint received by the FraudNet Hotline, a referral by the Office of Audits, or initiated by our agents through confidential sources of information.  Additionally, proactive investigations are developed by our regional offices, based upon local needs and resources.  Such initiatives have resulted in operations involving the Secret Service, FBI and other Office of Inspectors General.  Examples include credit card fraud, diversion of excess government property, and telecommunications fraud.

The Office of Investigations, in conjunction with the Office of Audits, also dedicates time and effort to fraud prevention and detection.  To this end we meet with agency representatives to educate them regarding fraud, waste and abuse. 

The Office of Investigations maintains regional offices and resident field investigations offices around the United States as follows:

Region 2 - Northeast and Caribbean Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: New York, NY
Resident Office: Boston, MA
States covered: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Region 4 - Southeast Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
States covered: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee

Region 5 - Great Lakes Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Chicago, IL
States covered: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Region 6 - Heartland Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Kansas City, MO
States covered: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming

Region 7 - Greater Southwest Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Fort Worth, TX
States covered: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas

Region 9 - Pacific Rim Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
States covered: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Guam

Region 10 - Northwest/Artic Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Auburn, WA
States covered: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

Region W - Mid-Atlantic Regional Investigations Office
Headquarters: Washington, DC
Resident Office: Philadelphia
States covered: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania

See Contact Us for more information for each of the offices.

As part of the mission of the Office of Inspector General Office of Investigations, major emphasis is placed on the detection and investigation of criminal conduct by employees of GSA and other Government employees and contractors doing business with GSA. Our efforts have led to several prosecutions, sending the message to other government employees and the public that the Office of Inspector General is aggressively pursuing public corruption.

Summaries of two recently concluded cases investigated by the Office of Investigations are included below.

Technical Services Company Pleads Guilty to Making False Claims

A joint investigation with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Contract Audit Agency was initiated when it was alleged that a technical services company submitted false and fraudulent invoices to the U.S. Navy for work done under various task orders issued under a GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract. The investigation revealed that the president, senior vice president, and chief financial officer of the company were involved in a scheme to inflate labor hours and labor charges on several task orders by over billing, double billing, cross charging, and inflating expense reports. On March 26, 2007, the president of the company pled guilty on behalf of his company to making false claims and entered into a plea agreement to pay restitution in the amount of $642,000 to the government.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Artwork Recovered

GSA is the custodian of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) works of art. The WPA fine arts specialists have coordinated with the Department of Justice and developed a list of lost and stolen artwork, which is maintained in a database by the FBI. Fine arts dealers are required to check this database prior to the sale of any work of art.

The OIG continues its proactive investigation by monitoring the illegal sale or possession of government-owned art. Through a search of eBay auctions for art commissioned by the WPA, two works of art were recovered since October 2006.

In the first instance, an H.L. Pierre painting titled Kansas City Waterfront, which is the property of GSA and part of the WPA project, was recovered. The seller was apprised of the WPA recovery efforts, agreed to terminate the sales auction, and maintained possession of the painting until it was returned to the control of the government. After final cataloging and appraisal, the painting was sent to the Fine Arts Division, Office of the GSA Chief Architect, to determine a suitable location for display in the Kansas City area.

In the second instance, a WPA figurine, by artist Nils Hanson, was recovered and returned to the control of the government. It was sent to the Fine Arts Division, Office of the GSA Chief Architect, for cataloging and determination of a suitable location for display.