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The U.S. Agency for International Development announced Monday that it has suspended one of its largest nonprofit contractors from federal work after investigators found serious misconduct in the nonprofits performance and management of taxpayer money.

For years, International Relief and Development, headquartered in Arlington, Va., served as one of USAIDs key contractors, undertaking ambitious humanitarian projects in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

The suspension comes after months of internal USAID reviews of IRDs performance in the field and reports from the agencys inspector general that the nonprofit allegedly mischarged millions of dollars in overhead costs. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the FBI are also investigating the organization.

The Agencys review revealed serious misconduct in IRDs performance, management, internal controls and present responsibility, USAID said in a statement Monday. USAID has a zero tolerance policy for mismanagement of American taxpayer funds and will take every measure at our disposal to recover these funds.

Since 2007, USAID has awarded more than $2.4 billion in contracts and cooperative agreements to IRD, much of it to fund stabilization and community-development projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several of those projects have been the subjects of investigations following allegations of waste and fraud.

IRD also has been criticized for providing lavish salaries and millions in bonuses to its employees, including the husband-and-wife team who ran the organization, as well as their family members. Many of the allegations were contained in a Washington Post investigation published last May.

The suspension takes effect immediately, blocking IRD from new federal contracts. The nonprofit will be permitted to complete projects that are underway.

It is what it is, and we have to deal with it, said Roger Ervin, who took over IRD as president six weeks ago. I take this as an opportunity to make some changes, and many of them are already underway. I think we can show in short order that we can demonstrate that we are a good service provider for USAID, and I think we can address this pretty quickly.

Ervin said he and other senior managers are restructuring the organization and cooperating with USAID and federal investigators. The only way were going to satisfy the government is to be as transparent as possible, he said.

Earlier this month, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to USAID questioning why IRD and another contractor continued to receive federal work in the face of the allegations.

Original post:
USAID suspends IRD, its largest nonprofit contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan