About The OIG

About the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is an independent, nonpartisan oversight agency mandated to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse of public resources at the state and municipal levels across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Mission

• Engage government leaders and public employees on best governance and business practices to promote quality, integrity, and efficiency in public spending and programs.
• Educate public employees on public procurement, fraud prevention, and program integrity.
• Investigate complaints of fraud, waste, and abuse from public employees, vendors, and private individuals.

The OIG is led by the Inspector General, who is appointed by the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Auditor to a five-year term, without regard to political affiliation and based upon demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, investigation or criminal justice administration. The IG may stand for reappointment once and can only be removed for cause.

The Ward Commission

The Special Commission Concerning State and County Buildings was created by the Legislature to investigate alleged corruption in the awarding of state and county building projects, most notably the UMass Boston campus. It soon became known as the “Ward Commission” after its chair, John William Ward.

In 1980, the Ward Commission released its final report on public corruption in state and county building projects. The commission found that billions of dollars had been wasted on building projects. The 12-volume Ward Commission Report concluded that:

• Corruption was a way of life in the Commonwealth
• Political influence, not professional performance, was the main condition for doing business with the state
• Shoddy work and low standards were the norm

Creation of the OIG

“…the Special Commission created the Office of the Inspector General, to build the capacity for self-correction into government itself.” – The Ward Commission Report.

The Ward Commission recommended that the legislature establish an office of the inspector general rather than relying on special commissions to investigate corruption as had been its practice. The commission believed this was not an effective or consistent enough approach. It argued that public life was “in dire shape, indeed,” if it relied on special commissions, created periodically on the basis of public outrage at a problem or scandal, to “correct the ills of public life.”

In addition, the Ward Commission noted a “vast middle ground” between the State Auditor’s “ability to review all state transactions to a limited degree without the power to investigate” and the Attorney General’s “power to investigate allegations of fraud on a case-by-case basis.”