Nevertheless, the lack of oversight at the congressionally established agency was obviously damning. The IG found that the agency “relies on assertions of Business Center clients, not review of supporting documentation, to evaluate reported jobs created or retained,” making it impossible to “ensure that Business Centers comply with award terms and conditions” or that “program goals are being met.”
The report even found that MBDA officials failed to follow the agency’s standard operating manual because they were unaware that an operating manual existed!
“The fact that several business centers submitted incomplete audits or audits that showed no effort to correct errors is pretty surprising,” the report states. “If groups are not managing funds in a manner commensurate with their contract, the awarding agency would usually step in and shut them down. But MBDA didn’t do that despite these failed audits.”
The report does not prove that any fraud occurred, but found there were no safeguards in place to prevent it, making massive fraud likely. It also notes that an Inspector General audit in 2017 had found “similar” issues with record-keeping and self-attestation, and that “many of the issues remain[ed]” almost a decade later. Lawmakers, then, were uninformed about the business center program even though it was legally required to submit performance reports to Congress to supplement its annual budget requests.
This would be a good document to shake in the faces of progressives whining about Trump and Elon Musk ending the reign of many unaccountable federal agencies used by Democrats to reward various voting blocs. This one was created by executive order during the Nixon administration in 1969, but the Biden administration codified it. Of course it did.
So far, none of the Axis news media has bothered to report this story—not the Times, the Post, NPR, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN or MSNOW.
I wonder why.
Ethics Alarms 
“The report does not prove that any fraud occurred, but found there were no safeguards in place to prevent it, making massive fraud likely. It also notes that an Inspector General audit in 2017 had found “similar” issues with record-keeping and self-attestation, and that “many of the issues remain[ed]” almost a decade later.”
So people have to self-attest about minority status in order for their business to be considered for government contracts. Here is where all these discriminatory practices corrode ethics: people resent being discriminated against on the basis of immutable characteristics like race. So some people will resort to misrepresenting their race in order to beat the discrimination, without feeling any guilt but feeling justified in order to beat discrimination on race (which is the greater wrong).
This is similar to “passing” in the 1950s where a person with a black grandparent tried to pass as white in order to be eligible to buy property in a restricted neighborhood, or to beat other instances of discrimination in the times of Jim Crow. I have seen TV shows where this practice of “passing” is presented as the right and logical thing to do.
Two wrongs do not make a right. However not all wrongs are equal. The bigger wrong is discrimination mandated by law. As soon as that disappears the dishonesty problem in checking those boxes on race will dissappear.
NOTE: when I first saw those checkboxes where I was asked to specify my race I was culture shocked. In the Netherlands such is unthinkable as the only time in history were questions about ethnicity had to be answered was during WWII as the Nazis wanted to use this to exclude Jews from society.
“So some people will resort to misrepresenting their race in order to beat the discrimination“
Rachel Dolezal, “Tin Lizzie” Warren, Ward Churchill, Hilaria Baldwin, Shaun King, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jessica Krug, et al, would like a word…..
PWS
The all-time champ was Carol Channing of “Hello Dolly” fame. She didn’t reveal she was black (by most standards) until near the end of her life and after she had retired as a performer. Her paternal grandmother was black and her father was considered black as a result. But Channing was light-skinned, and “passed.” Once she told the story, it seemed obvious. She sounded and looked black beneath t that blonde wig.
The One Drop Rule has certainly…um…evolved.
PWS
In the Antebellum era “passing” for white occurred in order to escape slavery.
During the Jim Crow era “passing” occurred in order to a) bypass anti-miscegenation laws that prevented white people to marry people who legally qualified as black following the “one drop” rule. b) to avoid discrimination in housing, employment, and travel (hotels, restaurants).
As slavery and Jim Crow were ethically abhorrent, I have no negative opinions about efforts to escape the effect of those who tried to escape this discrimination by passing. However there are many black people who viewed the practice negatively as it was a denial of black identity.
Given this history I have some sympathy for people who try to escape modern day discrimination in business by passing as a minority, in effect reversing the tilt created by discriminatory laws. The misrepresentation of race proves the corrupt nature of these laws.
I have no sympathy for Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, who never gave an indication that she was against these type of laws (and I include affirmative action here), but cynically invented a Cherokee ancestry as she thought she could benefit from that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(racial_identity)
Does anyone wonder why the rate of women owned businesses starts grew exponentially over the last 20 years. Name your wife as 51% owner in your business and voila you are now a minority owned firm. In other cases, a non minority owned firm partners with a real minority owned firm that is just a contracting vehicle and you are now eligible for set asides. All these programs encourage gamesmanship.