Probe: IRS contractor won up to $500 million in questionable bids

Nancy Cordes
CBS News
June 26, 2013
The Internal Revenue Service got some more unwanted attention Tuesday, but not for targeting political groups. This time, a congressional investigation has revealed a technology contractor won questionable bids worth up to $500 million.
Braulio Castillo began winning hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts with the IRS within months of founding his technology company Strong Castle in early 2012.
“We’ve found the kind of wrongdoing that should have caused this contract to be cancelled,” said Republican Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, which investigated Castillo’s rapid rise.

They found that just before opening Strong Castle, Castillo filed for a “disability rating” with the Veterans Administration, citing a “foot injury he suffered in 1984″ — 27 years ago — while playing sports at a military prep school.
That rating enabled Castillo to register Strong Castle as a “service-disabled, veteran-owned small business,” eligible for preferential treatment in bidding competitions.
“Understand — never served a day on active duty, went to a school at taxpayers’ expense and had a minor injury that didn’t keep him from going on to play college ball,” Issa said.
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