United States General Accounting Office

GAO Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee

on Oversight and Investigations,

Committee on Energy and Commerce,

House of Representatives

July 1994 TRAINING

PROCUREMENT

Weaknesses Identified

In NTSB Procurement

Practices

GAO/OSI-94-20

GAO United States

General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

Office of Special Investigations

B-257253 

July 26, 1994

The Honorable John D. Dingell

Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight

 and Investigations

Committee on Energy and Commerce

House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Chairman:

This report responds to your letter of April 1, 1993, in which you asked us

to investigate the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB)

procurement of training courses provided by the firm of Miller & Friends.

You asked that we investigate allegations that NTSB (1) kept incomplete

records of training procurements, (2) circumvented procurement

regulations by splitting a contract into individual purchase orders,

(3) improperly procured training courses from Mr. John Miller by paying

the same instructor through different names and accounts, (4) accepted

the misrepresentation of an instructor’s qualifications, and (5) allowed

instructors to use abusive training techniques in classes that NTSB

employees were required to attend.

Background The NTSB is an independent agency that promotes transportation safety by

conducting independent accident investigations and preparing safety

recommendations. The NTSB’s 1993 appropriation was $36 million, which

included a $760,000 training budget for its approximately 350 employees.

In March 1990, NTSB underwent a major reorganization, hiring a new

Managing Director and several senior-level directors. Among those hired

was Mr. Timothy Forte, the Director of Aviation Safety. Within 6 months

following the reorganization, Mr. Forte began sending groups of

employees to a series of leadership and management courses given by

Miller & Friends. These courses were conducted at the request of the NTSB

and for the benefit of NTSB employees.

In fiscal years 1990 through 1993, NTSB employees attended at least 

18 courses provided by Miller & Friends, at a cost to the agency of

$167,185, exclusive of travel and per diem expenses. Typically, about 20

NTSB employees attended each course, at a cost of at least $410 per

employee. The total paid to Miller & Friends for each course was typically

about $6,000-$14,000 and was always in excess of $2,500.

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B-257253 

Results in Brief The NTSB maintained incomplete records regarding the training courses

obtained from Miller & Friends. The records that were maintained

indicated that the NTSB did not seek competition for the Miller & Friends

training courses nor did it provide any justification for awarding those

contracts without competition. The available records also indicated that

the total billing for one of the training courses was split between several

purchase orders. Further, NTSB officials did not pursue questions

concerning Mr. Miller’s qualifications. While some NTSB employees

objected to attending courses and to the training techniques used in the

Miller & Friends courses, others described the courses in positive terms.

Finally, in one instance, Mr. Forte failed to properly report reimbursement

that he had received for travel expenses from an NTSB vendor.

NTSB Records

Regarding the Miller &

Friends Training

Courses Were

Incomplete

We reviewed the NTSB records maintained by NTSB’s accounting, training,

and program offices regarding the Miller & Friends courses. For many of

the courses, the files failed to establish (1) who negotiated the price,

(2) what services or materials were to be delivered, and (3) what the basis

was for obtaining the courses without competition.

NTSB Failed to Obtain

Competition for the

Training Courses

During fiscal years 1990 through 1993, NTSB employees attended at least 

18 courses provided by Miller & Friends, at a cost to the agency of

$167,185. NTSB officials requested the courses, which were attended only

by NTSB employees.

As a general rule, agencies are required to obtain competition when

acquiring property or services. With respect to procurements in excess of

$2,500, but less than $25,000, federal procurement regulations require

agencies to seek a reasonable number of bids or quotations from qualified

competitors before selecting a vendor, unless an appropriate justification

for selecting a single vendor without competition is documented. NTSB

Order 4400.11 requires that NTSB acquisitions for property or services be

consistent with federal procurement laws and regulations and provides

that requests for procurement of goods or services be submitted on NTSB

Form 4400.1, titled “Requisition for Supplies Services and Shipments.”

However, NTSB officials usually did not submit a Form 4400.1 in seeking

authorization and payment for the Miller & Friends courses. Rather, NTSB

1

NTSB Order 4400.1 was dated September 23, 1969, and has not been updated since NTSB became an

independent agency in 1974. The agency is in the process of revising the order.

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B-257253 

officials authorized payment for the Miller & Friends courses by issuing

multiple Office of Personnel Management Standard Forms 182 (SF-182).2

At some point, the NTSB Comptroller3 became aware of the use of SF-182s

to obtain training courses from Miller & Friends. In a February 3, 1993,

memorandum, the Comptroller advised NTSB officials that

“It has come to my attention that training provided by Miller & Friends has been acquired

through the issuance of SF-182 forms and not NTSB Form 4400.1. After researching this, it

has been concluded that we have reached a dollar threshold for FY 1993 wherein no further

training may be obtained with Miller & Friends. Effective immediately, you are instructed

not to commit funds/staff to Miller & Friends. Also, you are reminded to submit an NTSB

Form 4400.1 for any training required by Non-Government facilities (except for colleges or

universities).”

The available documents, along with inquiries made during our

investigation, established that Mr. Timothy Forte, the Director of Aviation

Safety, suggested that Miller & Friends courses be selected. Mr. Forte

stated that he wanted his employees to attend Miller & Friends courses

because he was personally familiar with Mr. Miller’s abilities. Mr. Forte

explained that he had attended the Federal Aviation Administration’s

Executive School and other courses taught by Mr. Miller and regarded

those courses very highly.

Mr. Forte’s prior experience with Miller & Friends courses, by itself, does

not constitute a valid basis for awarding contracts to that firm without

competition. NTSB officials provided us with no other justification for

Miller & Friends’ sole-source selection.

Alleged Splitting of

Billing

We received allegations that NTSB officials tried to conceal the total cost of

the Miller & Friends courses by making payments using different account

numbers, different program codes, and variations of Miller & Friends’

name. Our review of NTSB’s accounting records showed that NTSB made

payments to Miller & Friends using seven different vendor numbers, eight

different program codes, and four variations of Miller & Friends’ name.

The records indicated that on one occasion multiple purchase orders to

separate vendors were related to the same course. Specifically, with

2

SF-182s are normally used to authorize individual government employees’ attendance at

nongovernment-sponsored training courses. Form 4400.1 was used on three occasions.

3

NTSB’s Comptroller also functions as the Contracting Officer, Director of the Financial Management

Division, and Equal Employment Opportunity Director.

Page 3 GAO/OSI-94-20 NTSB Training Procurement
B-257253 

regard to a 3-day Team Building course conducted in February 1993, we

found one $8,000 purchase order to Miller & Friends for the training

course; one $3,000 purchase order to Mr. Miller’s wife, Ms. Athena Kaye,

for implementing a precourse self-assessment; and one $2,489 purchase

order to Mr. Richard Brungraber for a 1-day “follow-up” session.4 NTSB’s

Comptroller acknowledged that Ms. Kaye’s administration of the

questionnaire was part of the 3-day course and should not have been billed

separately.

NTSB Officials Did

Not Pursue Questions

Regarding Instructor

Credentials

NTSB employees alleged that Mr. Miller had misrepresented his

qualifications as an instructor and that NTSB officials ignored reports of

such misrepresentations. Mr. Forte stated that he was aware of questions

regarding Mr. Miller’s credentials but did not pursue them because NTSB

had no requirement to verify an instructor’s credentials for this type of

training.

We reviewed a Miller & Friends corporate brochure obtained from an NTSB

file. The brochure stated that Mr. Miller “worked at the University of

California Medical Center at Davis as a clinical instructor” and that he was

completing his doctorate in clinical psychology from the International

College in Sacramento, California.

We attempted to verify the accuracy of these representations. Officials at

the University of California Medical Center at Davis advised that no record

exists for John Miller as a clinical instructor. We were unable to locate any

listing for a school by the name of International College in Sacramento.

The Association of Adult Learning and Educational Credentials has no

record of an accreditation for International College in California; nor was

it listed in Peterson’s Guide to Four-Year Colleges, 1992.

4

According to the justification statement in the requisition, Mr. Brungraber taught the 3-day Team

Building course and was needed for the follow-up session. Mr. Brungraber was listed in a corporate

brochure as a “management training associate” of Miller & Friends.

Page 4 GAO/OSI-94-20 NTSB Training Procurement
B-257253 

Attendance at

Courses Where

Abusive Training

Techniques Allegedly

Were Used

Several NTSB employees who had attended Miller & Friends courses stated

that they had been required to attend the courses and that the courses

subjected them to psychotherapy, harassment, and techniques offensive to

their religious beliefs.5

 Various participants, however, held widely

divergent perceptions about the training. The following discusses the

information we found regarding these issues.

Alleged Mandatory

Training

Mr. Forte told us that the courses were not mandatory but rather

“available to all.” He added that it was his “goal to have everyone in NTSB

attend Miller’s training classes and see [the] effect on the office.” Our

investigation revealed the following examples of evidence that appear

inconsistent with Mr. Forte’s assertion that the courses were not

mandatory.

• Several student evaluations stated that attendance was required or

mandatory.

• An NTSB supervisor wrote on a student evaluation of the course that 

“. . . course attendance was mandated by headquarters.” Another

supervisor wrote, “I was required to send an employee. . . .”

• Two students filed EEO complaints with NTSB’s EEO Director because the

courses allegedly violated their religious beliefs and subjected them to

harassment or psychotherapy without their consent. The complaints

resulted in a handwritten note from the Management Director to the NTSB

Chairman of the Board stating, in part, “Future Miller training should 

be . . . 100% voluntary.”

Alleged Abusive Training

Techniques

We received allegations that the Miller & Friends instructors were using

“abusive” tactics, including assertions that Mr. Miller was “practicing

group therapy,” using harassment techniques similar to those used to

indoctrinate military recruits. Some NTSB employees who attended these

courses stated that Mr. Miller practiced group therapy without a license

and “violated ethical standards” by “probing for personal information in a

public forum” without prior consent. The NTSB employees also complained

that they were not advised of the course’s content before being required to

attend.

5

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance to its investigators indicates that

employers are required to reasonably accommodate employees whose sincerely held religious beliefs

conflict with a particular training technique or method used in a “new age” training program. EEOC

Compliance Manual § 628, App. B.

Page 5 GAO/OSI-94-20 NTSB Training Procurement
B-257253 

We interviewed a number of students who had attended the courses. Most

expressed strong opinions regarding the training techniques used. Those

who favored the training described it as an “enriching experience” that

taught them how to deal with reality and to “improve their self-awareness.”

Those who opposed the training described it as “abusive,” “brainwashing,”

and “bizarre.” Some of the students we interviewed stated that, on

occasion, Mr. Miller would solicit personal information from individual

students and then used that information in a way that caused emotional

distress for the student from whom the information had been obtained.

For example, Mr. Miller told a student whose father was dying of cancer,

“You are the cancer that is spreading through this group; you are the

cancer that is infecting everyone around you.” The student told us she was

“deeply hurt” by his remarks and subsequently broke down and cried.

Upon contacting her supervisor to request permission to leave the class,

she was told that “He [Mr. Miller] tried to rip me apart too, but this is the

type of class you have to go through.” Later that day, when she returned to

the office, she said that Mr. Forte also told her to return to the class. At the

end of the course, the student wrote in her course evaluation

“Participation was not allowed. Instructor taught by intimidation,

humiliation, and had no course objective.”

Mr. Forte told us that in at least one instance, Mr. Miller called a

participant a “slime bucket.” He told us, however, that this remark had to

be put in context, because it was part of the “frank feedback” given during

these classes.

Senior Official Failed

to Disclose

Acceptance of Travel

Reimbursement

Mr. Forte told us that he accepted “about $300” in travel reimbursement

from Arola Enterprises, an NTSB vendor, to facilitate his participation in

teaching a non-NTSB course. Although NTSB regulations did not prohibit Mr.

Forte’s action,6

 the Ethics in Government Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 6 § 102(a)(B)

(1988), required that he disclose this reimbursement on his Public

Financial Disclosure Report, Standard Form 278. Mr. Forte’s Standard

Form 278 for the years 1990 through 1993 did not disclose his receipt of

travel expenses.

6

NTSB’s regulations permit “bona fide” reimbursements for nonofficial travel. 49 C.F.R. § 805.735-5(g)

(1992).

Page 6 GAO/OSI-94-20 NTSB Training Procurement
B-257253 

Methodology We conducted our investigation from April 1993 to February 1994. Our

investigation focused on NTSB’s procurement of the Miller courses. We

reviewed applicable law and regulations, directives, internal NTSB

correspondence, and documents.

We interviewed NTSB officials, including the Director for Administration,

the Comptroller, the Budget Officer, the Deputy Ethics Officer, and the

Director for Aviation Safety. We also interviewed selected employees who

attended the Miller & Friends courses and various administrative staff who

were responsible for the procurement. In addition, we made an attempt to

talk with Mr. Miller, but he declined to grant us an interview.

We attempted to independently verify the accuracy of the cost data by

examining source documents, such as requisitions, invoices, and vouchers.

We consolidated the Miller courses by requesting that NTSB provide us with

a complete report of all its training expenditures from its automated

Consolidated Accounting System, beginning in fiscal year 1990. Then we

isolated all the payments made to Miller & Friends or others with the same

address as Miller & Friends or Mr. Miller.

We plan no further distribution of this report at this time. If you have

questions concerning this report, please contact me or Assistant Director

Houston Fuller of my staff at (202) 512-6722.

Sincerely,

Richard C. Stiener

Director

(600304) Page 7 GAO/OSI-94-20 NTSB Training Procurement
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