Ethical conduct standards have been a great concern of the Department of Defense (DoD) for decades. This is especially true in how its employees, particularly contracting officials, use them in making an ethical business decision. Most recently, August 30, 1993, DoD reissued the DODD 5500.7, Standards of Conduct and implemented the new DoD 5500.7-R, Joint Ethics Regulation (JER) to 'standardize' all ethical conduct standards. These ethical conduct standards, contained in the JER, represent one standard meant to be followed by all DoD components. This Thesis develops a model ethics program meant for use by all DoD component contracting offices and other entities such as a contracting division of a systems command. It contains standardized program elements used to implement the conduct standards espoused in the JER.

Ethical conduct standards have been a great concern of the Department of Defense (DoD) for decades. This is especially true in how its employees, particularly contracting officials, use them in making an ethical business decision. Most recently, August 30, 1993, DoD reissued the DODD 5500.7, Standards of Conduct and implemented the new DoD 5500.7-R, Joint Ethics Regulation (JER) to 'standardize' all ethical conduct standards. These ethical conduct standards, contained in the JER, represent one standard meant to be followed by all DoD components. This Thesis develops a model ethics program meant for use by all DoD component contracting offices and other entities such as a contracting division of a systems command. It contains standardized program elements used to implement the conduct standards espoused in the JER.

Until recently, ethics programs and practices of defense contractors were self-policed. Given the significant sums spent to acquire goods and services, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was amended twice starting in December 2007 to first mandate and later amplify contractor ethics program rules. Before FAR changes were finalized in December 2008, Congress required GAO to report in 2009 on the ethics programs of major defense contractors. This report (1) describes the extent that contractors had ethics programs before the finalization of the FAR rules that included practices consistent with standards now required by the FAR and (2) assesses the impact the new FAR rules have on Department of Defense (DOD) oversight of contractor ethics programs. To do this work, in September 2008 GAO surveyed all 57 contractors-those receiving more than $500 million in 2006 DOD contract awards-and interviewed DOD contractor oversight agency officials on the impact of the new FAR rules on oversight.

Until recently, ethics programs and practices of defense contractors were self-policed. Given the significant sums spent to acquire goods and services, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was amended twice starting in December 2007 to first mandate and later amplify contractor ethics program rules. Before FAR changes were finalized in December 2008, Congress required GAO to report in 2009 on the ethics programs of major defense contractors. This report (1) describes the extent that contractors had ethics programs before the finalization of the FAR rules that included practices consistent with standards now required by the FAR and (2) assesses the impact the new FAR rules have on Department of Defense (DOD) oversight of contractor ethics programs. To do this work, in September 2008 GAO surveyed all 57 contractors -- those receiving more than $500 million in 2006 DOD contract awards -- and interviewed DOD contractor oversight agency officials on the impact of the new FAR rules on oversight. GAO recommends four actions aimed at improving oversight of ethics programs during contract administration and DOD hotline poster requirements for contractors to ensure that whistleblower protections are communicated. DOD concurs with GAO's recommendations.

Defense Contracting Integrity: Opportunities Exist to Improve DOD's Oversight of Contractor Ethics Programs

In fiscal year 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) spent more than $200 billion to purchase goods and services. To help ensure defense contracts are awarded fairly and current and former employees do not use their knowledge of DOD acquisition activities to gain financial or other benefits, DOD personnel are required to conduct themselves in a manner that meets federal ethics rules and standards. Regulations require DOD to implement an ethics program and provide that contractors meet certain ethics standards. For this report, GAO assessed (1) DOD's efforts to train and counsel its workforce to raise awareness of ethics rules and standards as well as DOD measures of the effectiveness of these efforts and (2) DOD's knowledge of defense contractors' programs to promote ethical standards of conduct.

The Standards of Conduct Office of the Department of Defense General Counsel's Office has assembled an "encyclopedia" of cases of ethical failure for use as a training tool. These are real examples of Federal employees who have intentionally or unwittingly violated standards of conduct. Some cases are humorous, some sad, and all are real. Some will anger you as a Federal employee and some will anger you as an American taxpayer. Note the multiple jail and probation sentences, fines, employment terminations and other sanctions that were taken as a result of these ethical failures. Violations of many ethical standards involve criminal statutes. This updated (end of 2009) edition is organized by type of violations, including conflicts of interest, misuse of Government equipment, violations of post-employment restrictions, and travel.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.