The D.C. Housing Authority illegally contracted with a Virginia-based software company, spending about $1 million without competitive bidding and splitting the amount into smaller purchases to escape scrutiny from the agency’s board, according to a report by the Housing Authority’s internal auditor.
The review alleges that DCHA under its previous director, Tyrone Garrett, entered the first of the “illegal contracts” in 2019. But in a more immediate concern for the agency’s board, the review also accuses DCHA’s current executive staff of improperly trying “to use emergency contracts to cover up the error of obtaining an illegal contract.”
“In an effort to remedy the contract mismanagement and malfeasance from the previous administration, the current administration created additional mismanagement and malfeasance of their own,” according to the report, which was issued Nov. 1.