Report Cites 'Pervasive' Mismanagement

A year-long task force study found widespread deficiencies in how the District spends $3.75 billion a year, failures resulting from both negligence and intentional behavior, according to a final report released yesterday.

A task force of city employees and outside experts described a culture in which "neglect is pervasive in both major and minor ways" and in which "violations are not treated seriously." The panel was created after media reports about hundreds of millions of dollars spent without contracts or through no-bid deals.

The report strongly criticized a decision by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) not to appoint a chief contracting officer during the past two years. The contract office was run from September 2004 until last month by Deputy Mayor Herbert R. Tillery, who does not have the background or experience required by statute. The number of purchases and amount spent without proper contracts "ballooned" during Tillery's term, the report says. Tillery left the government last month.

"For the past two years, the Office of Contracting and Procurement has been without a qualified, permanent or even full-time Chief Procurement Officer," the report says, which "decreased the office's effectiveness and created the unfortunate appearance that compliance with procurement policy is not a high priority."

"It's not Tillery's fault. He had no experience," the task force chairman, Matthew S. Watson, a former D.C. auditor, said in an interview. "It's difficult to lead if you have to rely on your organization to tell you what has to be done. It's a symptom that no one takes procurement very seriously."

Rules for making purchases are "regularly ignored," the report says, and people who violate clear prohibitions are not punished.

Vincent Morris, a spokesman for Williams, said in a written statement yesterday that the mayor "made massive improvements" and that contracting is "miles better" than it was when Williams took over.

The city's contracting office has not been adequate, said a statement issued by Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty's office, and Fenty vowed to provide a first-rate contracting process.

A separate review by the Government Accountability Office, requested by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who chairs the House Committee on Government Reform, is expected to be finished in January. The District inspector general is also completing a review of city contracting.