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A former General Services Administration planner-estimator pleaded guilty to bribery last week in connection with awarding contracts at a Chicago federal courthouse, the Justice Department has announced.

Donald Marzullo, a 14-year GSA employee who developed work contracts and cost estimates for mechanical and alteration jobs, pleaded guilty to five instances of bribery in late 2001 and early 2002.

Marzullo created phony bid documents four times from fabricated businesses to help a GSA contractor obtain government contracts. In the fifth instance, he submitted a fraudulent bid from a legitimate business.

Marzullo is the 19th defendant to plead guilty to wrongdoing as the result of a five-year undercover FBI investigation of GSA corruption in Chicago. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct.19, and he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

While working in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago, Marzullo's ruse involved secretly submitting phony bids for $100,000-plus contracts so that a contractor who promised to reward Marzullo monetarily would be the lowest bidder.

The contractor won the bid and built a $2,200 storage shed at Marzullo's home for free during the summer of 2002. To make it look as though Marzullo paid for the shed, the contractor gave him $1,400 in cash and Marzullo wrote him a check for the same amount and both agreed to lie about it if any questions were asked, according to the Justice Department.

Also involved in the FBI investigation was former GSA building manager specialist Val Jeffries, who pleaded guilty to stealing a snowblower from the agency. He was sentenced to one year of probation for one count of misdemeanor theft of government property.

To aid in the investigation, law enforcement officials made numerous recordings of conversations between GSA officials and contractors with the cooperation of agency employees, according to the Justice Department.

Others who pleaded guilty include former GSA supervisors Glenn Hardy, Raletta Ingram James Kramer and Jerry Taylor; GSA pipe fitter Arthur Orr; former FBI typist Theresa Pitt; former Dirksen courthouse security officer Merritt Pulkrabek and GSA contractors Scott Arias, James Barratt, Scott Bravos, Michael Cahill, Charles Funke, John Gibson, Terrence Kulick, Barry Lewinson, Carolyn Pease and Gerasimos Valsamis.

J. David Hood, assistant regional administrator for GSA's Public Buildings Service in the Great Lakes Region, said that such conduct is unjustifiable and the wrongdoing is tragic.

"While we see justice properly being served, we are saddened by the undeserved damage done to the faith between fellow employees and to the public trust that the overwhelming majority of GSA and all government employees fully deserve day-in, day-out," Hood said.

Seasonal Dismissal Prohibited

A seasonal Treasury Department employee, dismissed from her job as a contact representative for poor performance, was reinstated with back pay after the Merit Systems Protection Board found her dismissal improper.

Diana R. Gutierrez was hired by Treasury in November 2002 with a one-year probationary period when she was subject to nonpay status, depending on workload requirements.

In December 2003, the agency notified Gutierrez that she would be fired as of Jan. 3, 2004, for "less than fully successful performance." The agency argued that this was within her one-year probationary period because she was put on nonpay status from Sept. 6, 2003 through Nov. 17, 2003, and her government service actually was about 10 months.

Gutierrez filed an appeal stating that she had not been given the proper counseling or help, but admitted the firing took place within her probationary period. The agency argued that MSPB had limited jurisdiction over probationers and asked that the case to be dismissed.

Office of Personnel Management regulations define "continuous employment" as time without a break in an employee's workday and since seasonal employees are placed on nonpay status and there was no break in workdays, MSPB Chairman Neil Anthony Gordon McPhie and member Barbara J. Sapin ruled that Gutierrez did not receive the minimum due process of law and ordered her removal reversed.

Diana R. Gutierrez v. Department of the Treasury, Merit Systems Protection Board, DA-315H-04-0209-I-1, July 12, 2005.

COMMENTS

• You are correct in that they were small people but they were turning into big crooks. Stay cool, I bet Halliburton's days will be numbered just as soon as Cheney is out of office. Cheney is not going to be forgotten nor will his buddies. However, it is doubtful anything will ever come of it, due to their wealth. Charlie Posted July 23, 2005 5:34 PM
• Could that type of scurvy activity be part of the reason why it takes 6 years to get an Investigations office built? GovExec.com reader Posted July 22, 2005 1:26 PM
• OK, we nailed some small people in GSA, now can we do the same with the crimes being committed with Halliburton? They don't take millions, these guys take billions. GovExec.com reader Posted July 22, 2005 7:19 AM