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PRINTThe Interior Department plans to close its Inspector General’s Office in the Virgin Islands within the year, but will continue to conduct audits in the territory through field work.
Stephen Hardgrove, chief of staff for Interior’s IG Office in Washington, D.C., confirmed reports of the closing Tuesday.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Hardgrove said. “Unfortunately we’re faced with budget cuts.” He said Interior determined it could save money by closing its V.I. office, located in the Ron DeLugo Federal Building on St. Thomas.
“We’re not disappearing,” Hardgrove said. “We will continue to do audits and evaluations (of government operations and agencies) in the Virgin Islands,” but he acknowledged the work will be conducted from the mainland. Staff may visit the territory as needed.
While the move was not officially announced as of late Tuesday, Hardgrove said the five-person staff in the St. Thomas office had been notified. He said he is hopeful some or all will transfer to other Inspector General offices on the mainland.
Hardgrove could not immediately say how long the office has operated in the territory, but it has been at least since the 1980s.
The federal agency averages about four audits a year, he said, issuing some reports on its own and often working with the territorial Inspector General’s Office. The two offices frequently issue joint audits, he said.
“You do have a very effective Virgin Islands Inspector General,” Hardgrove said. “That helped play into the decision” to close the federal office. He said he expects the partnership to continue.
Hardgrove expressed pride in the local office, noting especially audits on the Water and Power Authority, the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and police evidence rooms.
“I think we’ve done some valuable work there,” he said.
The office will close “no later than October of 2013,” he said.
This is indeed BAD NEWS!
OIG is the only way we are able to keep tabs on how our money is spent. The thieves must be drooling at the idea that we shall no longer have an office with integrity to oversee, audit and stop the rampant waste, mismanagement, misspending, misappropriating and yes, theft, of our funds.
At a time when we need this office to execute it's audits of our Government Depts., more than ever, it is terrible that the Dept. of Interior is so short-sighted.
Thank you Stephen Van Beverhoudt and your amazing staff for years of truly dedicated and honest service.
A RARITY in our islands!
The Department of the Interior has had an audit office in the Virgin Islands since around 1955. It was originally called the Office of U.S. Government Comptroller for the Virgin Islands and was part of what is now Interior's Office of Insular Affairs. The Office was located on the second floor of the Property & Procurement building in Crown Bay (where the V.I. Department of Parks and Recreation is now located). I started working as an auditor in that office in June 1971. When the Ron DeLugo Federal Building and Courthouse was constructed in the late 1970s, the Comptroller's Office moved to that location.
In October 1982, the Comptroller's Office became a branch of Interior's Office of Inspector General as a result of the Insular Areas Act of 1982. This change was made because the U.S. General Accounting Office felt that having the audit function as a part of the Office of Insular Affairs resulted in a lack of independence on the part of the audit branch. At that time, the Office of Insular Affairs was providing "hands-on" technical assistance to the V.I. Government and also auditing the operations of the V.I. Government.
I was the head of the Office of Inspector General's local office from January 1991 until my retirement in April 2006. Frankly, I'm not surprised that OIG is closing the local office, because in my last couple of years at OIG, I literally was fighting a losing battle against OIG management regarding the need for a continued strong Federal audit oversight, not only in the Virgin Islands but also in the Pacific territories. The OIG office in Guam was closed in October 2002 and replaced with a much smaller office in Honolulu. So, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the V.I. office would also be closed.
I'm very disappointed by this decision because, although my brother, Steven van Beverhoudt, is doing an outstanding job as the Virgin Islands Inspector General, I believe that having a strong Federal audit presence in the Virgin Islands is an added deterrent to fraud, waste, and abuse in local government operations. Having auditors fly in to the islands every once in a while to conduct an audit simply can not give the same level of audit oversight that a locally-stationed staff can give. The Insular Areas Act of 1982 mandates that Interior's OIG should provide an "adequate" level of audit oversight of the territorial governments in the V.I., Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. I guess there's a lot of room for interpretation on what "adequate" means.
I want to wish all of my former coworkers at OIG's Virgin Islands office the very best at this trying time for them and their families. I hope that OIG will do the right thing in looking out for a group of very talented and dedicated employees who were always putting out their best effort to improve the operations of V.I. Government agencies and protecting the V.I. residents from fraud, waste, and abuse.
Anyone who's interested can see my personal career history at my website, beginning on this page:
http://www.sandcastlevi.com/intro/oig.htm
Arnold E. van Beverhoudt, Jr.
CPA, CFE, CGFM - Retired