Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
12/5/2014
Former Los Alamos National Laboratory Deputy Director Beth Sellers and her husband, Bill, have been suspended from doing work with the government and have been proposed for debarment, government records indicate. Sellers resigned as Los Alamos’ deputy director in March after an investigation by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General revealed that Sellers and her husband failed to notify lab officials of a potential conflict of interest before her husband, a consultant to the lab, was awarded a sole-source contract. Sellers’ husband also billed the lab for work he never performed, the IG said.
Sellers, a Bechtel executive, was suspended from doing work with the government Nov. 13 in a somewhat rare move for weapons complex contractors, and proceedings are underway for her to be debarred for three years. Her husband, Bill, was suspended Sept. 19 and is also facing a three-year debarment.
Sellers and Her Husband Preliminarily Ineligible for Work With Gov’t
According to the government’s System for Award Management, Sellers and her husband are preliminarily ineligible to contract with the government “based upon adequate evidence of conduct indicating a lack of business honesty or integrity, or a lack of business integrity, or regulation, statute, executive order or other legal authority, pending completion of an investigation and/or legal proceedings; or based upon initiation of proceedings to determine final ineligibility based upon regulation, statute, executive order or other legal authority or a lack of business integrity or a preponderance of the evidence of any other cause of a serious and compelling nature that it affects present responsibility.”
In a statement to NS&D Monitor, Beth Sellers said she was in the process of responding to government as part of the debarment proceedings. “I have dedicated nearly three decades of my life to federal service and have always demonstrated the highest levels of personal integrity,” she said. “I will be responding to the government notice to address their concerns.” Sellers has been managing special projects for Bechtel since leaving Los Alamos in March. Bechtel said in a statement, “We respect the process and believe it would be inappropriate and premature for us to comment further.”
Husband’s Consulting Agreement at Heart of Issue
While Sellers’ relationship with her husband was well known at the lab, the IG revealed in March that he did not disclose his relationship with Sellers when he was awarded a contract to serve as the lab’s Technology Transfer Point of Contact for Regional Technology Infrastructure. Sellers also did not notify lab ethics officials or McMillan of the potential conflict of interest until five months after the consulting contract had been awarded.
In a violation of lab policies, the IG also said Bill Sellers was paid $4,700 for work performed before the consulting agreement was signed, and billed the lab for work that never took place, including a trip to the Santa Fe Opera with Beth Sellers and a federal official and his wife. The federal official said the event was for “relaxation and no business was discussed.” The official also told the IG he was unaware Sellers’ husband had a consulting contract with the lab. The lab has since terminated Bill Sellers’ contract and reimbursed the government for all of the work performed, a total of $23,100.
According to the IG, Sellers and her husband didn’t fully understand the lab’s conflict of interest requirements. Bill Sellers told the IG that he believed the conflict of interest issues only applied to corporations, but not individuals. Beth Sellers told the IG that she was unaware she had to report the conflict of interest until she updated her “Conflict of Interest Disclosures for Senior Managers and Advisors” form. Five months after the contract was awarded, Beth Sellers indicated that a potential conflict of interest existed, writing: “My husband [name of spouse] has a small consultant agreement with the lab.” The IG said Bill Sellers should have documented the conflict of interest in a “Representations and Certifications” document when his consulting agreement was finalized. According to the IG, the document includes a “Personal Conflicts of Interest Certification” that would have triggered a review by the lab, but would not have precluded him from being awarded the contract.
