Even as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was struggling to explain to Congress why it could not produce copies of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s emails, the agency was paying $12 million for an email backup system that it could not and did not use.
The agency’s inability helped Lerner get off the hook for using the IRS to target conservative and Tea Party nonprofit applicants during the 2010 and 2012 campaigns.
Soon after the Lerner scandal, IRS officials bought the system designed to prevent the loss of emails, but then didn’t bother to turn it on. They also broke federal procurement rules in how they bought the system.
The fiasco was highlighted by Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, in the latest edition of his Wastebook, released Tuesday.
The agency’s inability helped Lerner get off the hook for using the IRS to target conservative and Tea Party nonprofit applicants during the 2010 and 2012 campaigns.
Soon after the Lerner scandal, IRS officials bought the system designed to prevent the loss of emails, but then didn’t bother to turn it on. They also broke federal procurement rules in how they bought the system.
The fiasco was highlighted by Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, in the latest edition of his Wastebook, released Tuesday.