Actions of state worker cited

A project manager at the state Department of the General Services has been referred to the attorney general's office for criminal investigation because of repeated conflict-of-interest findings by legislative auditors, officials said yesterday.

It is the second audit finding in three months of potential employee ethics violations at the Department of General Services. The state agency manages state buildings and hires and supervises private contractors who build facilities for Maryland government agencies with public money.

According to an audit report released yesterday, the project manager oversaw a $4.3 million contract with an architecture firm that employed his wife but failed to disclose the potential conflict of interest in 2005 and 2006 financial disclosure forms, which is required by law. The employee is not identified in the audit but is identified in State Ethics Commission documents as Barry L. Miller.

Auditors were investigating Miller because he was found in 2003 to be involved in awarding two architectural contracts worth a combined $3.6 million to a different business of which his wife was then a vice president.

In a 2004 agreement with the Ethics Commission, Miller acknowledged violating public ethics law. He also attended ethics training, the agreement said.

After that incident, the Department of General Services revised its internal policies in an effort to avoid future conflicts of interest.

"Our current review disclosed that the revised operating policies were inadequate," auditors wrote in the follow-up report released yesterday.

Auditors referred the findings to the attorney general's criminal division.

In his written response to auditors, General Services Secretary Alvin C. Collins said Miller told supervisors that he had consulted with the Ethics Commission about his wife's employment at the business that held the $4.3 million contract. She was hired after the contract was awarded.

Miller "advised DGS that senior staff at the commission had determined that there was no conflict because the spouse did not have an ownership interest in the firm and was not directly or indirectly involved in the firm's work for DGS," Collins wrote.

Collins did not address the auditors' finding that Miller failed to disclose his wife's employment on financial disclosure firms.

Bruce A. Myers, head of the Office of Legislative Audits, said Collins' response was not persuasive. "Let's just say our information contradicts their response," he said.

Dave Humphrey, a General Services spokesman, declined to discuss the audit, and said Collins was unavailable. Miller did not return a phone call yesterday afternoon, but the comptroller's office said he is still a DGS employee. His salary is $82,440, said Joseph Shapiro, a spokesman for Comptroller Peter Franchot.

Miller was not involved in awarding the $4.3 million contract, and his wife became employed by the unnamed architecture firm after the contract began. She has no ownership stake in the firm and was not involved in its work for DGS, officials said.

Myers said that Miller's previous sanctions for conflicts of interests raised auditors' concerns.

"And the possibility exists for fraud or personal gain from the employee or spouse," Myers said. He emphasized, however, that "we don't have any indication" that Miller or his wife personally benefited from the contract.

The attorney general's office declined to comment on the possibility of a criminal investigation.

In December, legislative auditors found that the Department of General Services official who oversees purchasing for state agencies also was the president of a nonprofit association representing public procurement employees.

At its recent trade show, the nonprofit sought monetary sponsorships from vendors doing business with state agencies, auditors said.

That case was referred to the Ethics Commission for further review.

Humphrey, the General Services spokesman, said the timing of the two audit reports was coincidental. "The allegations contained in the two reports [are] in no way related," he said in an e-mail. "As a primary procurement agency, DGS has internal operating procedures in place to ensure that conflicts of interest will not occur when awarding state contracts."

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com

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