“It is truly unfortunate to see, once again, that the Office of Public Auditor and Congressman Sablan will never miss an opportunity, even without merit, to attack me and the governor,” Buckingham said in a press statement.
The Variety’s online edition on Saturday broke the news about the inspector general’s report which stated that former Commerce Secretary Michael Ada’s $392,406 sole-source contract may have violated CNMI ethics rules and Procurement and Supply regulations and should be considered null and void.
Sablan in a statement said “we can have little confidence that [the AG’s] office will press charges or seek recovery of funds.”
Buckingham said when he received the inspector general’s report it was labeled “privileged and confidential” and limited to “official use.”
The July 12 report was posted online by the inspector general’s office on July 22.
The AG said he knew that late last week, OPA provided copies of the confidential document to the governor, lt. governor, Senate president, House speaker and AGO.
“Privileged and confidential means that a document is legally restricted,” Buckingham said.
“You don’t see AGO documents routinely leaked to the press or unauthorized to serve personal or political purposes. Here, once again, OPA has failed to ensure the confidentiality of OPA documents and seems to be working, like they have in the past, with Congressman Sablan to make good headlines.”
The inspector general’s office said it conducted the investigation jointly with OPA.
Asked why he signed Ada’s controversial contract, Buckingham said Pai earlier “present[ed] a persuasive rationale that would seem to justify the sole sourcing of Mr. Ada’s contract.”
Buckingham was referring to Pai’s Oct. 7, 2010 letter to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial,
Pai, in his letter, said OPA is not able to provide an opinion on whether the contract met the requirements for sole sourcing because the “initial decision on these matters should be made by Procurement and Supply.”
Buckingham said “OPA was silent about the ethical issues.”
Moreover, the AG added, the contract was reviewed and approved by the Procurement and Supply Director Herman S. Sablan.
The inspector general’s report said Procurement Supply “felt that the sole source award was justified because the justification indicated that the attorney general reviewed the document.”
According to Buckingham, the Department of Commerce reported that it was incapable of performing the review of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds which used to be handled by Ada.
But Ada resigned to form his company, Integrated Professional Solutions, which was then awarded by the governor a sole-source contract to handle the federal grants.
Buckingham said the CNMI “had nearly $100 million in federal funds at risk if monitoring and reporting did not continue. “
But according to the inspector general’s report, “While all of the [federal] officials emphasized that ARRA awards involve enhanced reporting requirements and increased scrutiny, all officials reported that they would not have withdrawn funding for a single late report.”
Buckingham said there were ethical issues involved and they were “troubling.”
He added, “In the end, it was a question of balancing interests…. [N]otwithstanding the ethical issues, I believe approval of the Ada contract was appropriate,” he added.
Still, he said, he also believes that Ada “put the governor and the commonwealth in a very difficult situation by leaving government service and then contracting privately for his services.”
Buckingham has sued Pai for hiring a “ghost employee.”
OPA earlier criticized the AG for hosting a gathering at the governor’s mansion for Fitial’s candidate for Congress who lost to Sablan in the Nov. 2010 election.
