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Office of Inspector General

CPSC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigates reports of waste, fraud, and mismanagement.

There are three ways to contact CPSC's OIG to report an act you believe to be wasteful or fraudulent:

Fraud can also be reported using the General Accounting Office's Fraudnet website.

Government employees are protected from reprisal. Your identity will held in confidence, unless the Inspector General determines the disclosure to be unavoidable.

You can also use our general contact form to send an email the OIG.

About the Office of Inspector General

The Office of Inspector General is responsible for

  1. conducting audits and investigations;
  2. reviewing legislation;
  3. recommending policies to promote efficiency and effectiveness; and
  4. preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse in the operations of the agency.

The Inspector General (IG) is also responsible for keeping the CPSC’s chairman and Congress informed of problems or deficiencies in CPSC programs and operations. CPSC’s Inspector General is selected by the CPSC Chairman and reports directly to him.

CPSC's Office of Inspector General was established on April 9, 1989, in accordance with the Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988, Public Law 100-504. The legislation established Offices of Inspector General in several departments and thirty-three agencies, including CPSC. The law gives the IG the power to act independently: the IG cannot be prevented from initiating, carrying out, or completing an audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpoena; has access to all records of the agency; reports directly to Congress; and can only be removed by the chairman, who must promptly advise Congress of the reasons for the removal.

To learn more about the work of the inspector general, please read the Inspectors General Vision Statement.

Recent Audits

Below are documents related to recent audits conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. All documents are in Adobe PDF format.

Recent Semiannual Reports

Below are semiannual reports issued by the Office of the Inspector General.

Contact Information

Inspector General: Christopher W. Dentel (301) 504-7906

Christopher W. Dentel was appointed the Inspector General for the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2004.

Mr. Dentel has worked for the Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of the Inspector General (OIG) since 2002. Initially, he was Counsel to the Inspector General with special responsibilities over all investigations.

Before joining the OIG, Mr. Dentel served on active duty in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corp from 1993 to 2001. From 1999 to 2001 he served at the Contract Law Directorate for the Air Force. There he advised senior officers responsible for the procurement of millions of dollars of goods and services regarding all aspects of the contracting process, including: fraud prevention, labor law, strategy, source selection, claims, terminations, ratifications, and disputes. He defended the United States in various forums including before the General Accountability Office, Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and in agency level protests. His duties included advising U.S. Attorneys on fraud actions and serving as the Air Force-wide point of contact for mistakes-in-bid.

From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Dentel served as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate for the United States Air Force at Little Rock and Wright-Patterson Air Force Bases and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio’s, United States Attorney's Office. He prosecuted criminal trials, both trials by courts-martial and trials in Federal Magistrate’s Court. He represented the US before administrative boards and agencies including the EEOC, Merit System Protection Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and Merit System Protection Board. He also advised Inspector General, Security Forces, and Office of Special Investigations personnel on evidentiary, investigative, and jurisdictional issues.


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