Violation of Ethics Regulations by Office of the Secretary Official

We investigated an allegation that Jamie K. Reaser, Executive Director, National Invasive Species Council (NISC) Secretariat, may have violated Federal ethics and conflict of interest regulations by directing the award of a sole-source contract to an individual with whom she resided and may have had a personal and/or financial relationship.We found that in May 2017, Reaser violated Federal regulations when she directed the award of a $20,000 sole-source contract to her friend, with whom she routinely lived during the week rentfree, for writing a review article. We also found that she provided him with the Government’s budget for the contract. We also found that all the contracts awarded since Reaser became the NISC Secretariat’s executive director were awarded through sole-source procedures at her direction, even though some of those could have been openly competed. In some of the cases, Reaser provided sensitiveprocurement information to contractors prior to award, which was contrary to acquisition procedures.We are providing our report to the Assistant Secretary for Budget, Finance, Performance, and Acquisition for any action deemed appropriate.