United States v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp.

• Decision Date: 15 August 1985
• Docket Number: Misc. No. 11710.
• Citation: 615 F. Supp. 1163
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Petitioner, v. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

615 F. Supp. 1163

UNITED STATES of America, Petitioner, v. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION, Respondent.

Misc. No. 11710.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

August 15, 1985.

Craig R. McKay, Asst. U.S. Atty., Civil Div., Pittsburgh, Pa., Robert L. Ashbaugh, Dept. of Justice, Civil Div., Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

Herbert L. Fenster, Washington, D.C., Philip Baskin, Pittsburgh, Pa., for respondent.

Joseph A. Katarincic, Pittsburgh, Pa., for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of U.S.

Stephen A. Bokat, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Institute of Internal Auditors.

OPINION

ROSENBERG, District Judge.

This matter is before me after the filing by the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Defense (DOD) for the United States of America on December 27, 1984, of a Petition For Enforcement of Administrative Subpoena by the Government, pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended 5 U.S.C. Appendix § 6(a)(4) and 28 U.S.C. § 1345, against Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Westinghouse) (respondent). The subpoena was served upon the respondent Westinghouse on September 28, 1984, and after Westinghouse refused compliance, this action followed.

Joseph H. Sherick, the Inspector General, on September 27, 1984 issued the subpoena duces tecum to an official of the respondent, commanding his appearance before Mr. Newton H. Davis, Branch Manager, Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or his designees, at 1000 Liberty Avenue, Room 2112, on October 11, 1984, at 9:00 o'clock a.m., and to bring "the following information, documents, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data and documentary evidence pertaining to internal audits for the period January 1, 1982 through October 1, 1984, for which costs have been incurred by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and any of its segments and allocated to contracts awarded by the Department of Defense or to any subcontractors under the Department of Defense prime contracts to include the items listed in Appendix A which are necessary in the performance of the responsibility of the Inspector General under the Inspector General Act to produce and supervise audits and investigations relating to, and to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of, and to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in, the programs and operations of the Department of Defense".

The respondent in its answer contended that the administrative subpoena issued by the IG should not be enforced because (1) the subpoena fails to identify the investigation or inquiry to which it relates; (2) the subpoena was issued for the unlawful and improper purpose of obtaining information for another agency, the DCAA, which does not have subpoena power¹ to coerce a settlement of a collateral contract dispute (as to whether the DCAA has a right to examine the respondent's internal audit reports, an issue which is presently before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals for decision); (3) the documents sought are not related to DOD programs nor necessary to the performance of the IG's statutory functions; and (4) the production would be unduly burdensome.

AMICUS CURIAE

After the respondent filed an answer, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States (Amicus) averring it was the largest federation of business and professional organizations in the United States and that it represented the interests of its members in matters before the court, filed a motion for leave to present a brief amicus curiae on March 4, 1985. In its brief it attempted to support the position of the respondent by arguing that internal audit departments of corporations must be independent and confidential in order to be effective. On May 10, 1985, the Institute of Internal Auditors (Amicus) averred it is an international organization comprised of internal auditors in both government and private sectors, and filed a Motion to Submit Brief Amicus Curiae. It also practically reiterated the position of the Chamber of Commerce, adding that allowing the government "unrestricted access" to internal audit reports would ultimately discourage detection of fraud, waste and abuse by the internal auditors. These motions were granted.

DISCOVERY

Initially, the respondent requested discovery in the proceeding of the depositions of Joseph H. Sherick, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, James H. Curry, Assistant Inspector General for Audit Policy and Oversight of the Department of Defense, Derrick Vander Schaaf, Deputy Inspector General of the DOD; Charles O. Starrett, Director, Defense Contract Audit Agency, and Newton H. Davis, Pittsburgh Branch Manager of the DCAA.

After conferences among counsel, the documents sought by the respondent were: a DCAA memorandum request for a subpoena directed to the IG, dated August 14, 1984; a DCAA memorandum request for a subpoena directed to the IG, dated August 16, 1984; guidelines for the issuance of IG subpoenas dated October 7, 1983; Working Draft, Report on Oversight Review of DCAA Access to Contractor Records, dated January 11, 1983; and the Access to Records Summary of Twenty-three Field Offices with a handwritten tabulation of this summary, all of which were submitted to me for in camera examination.

Pursuant to agreement of counsel, a court-supervised deposition of Sherick and Curry was conducted on February 26, 1985. Subsequently, after frequent consultations and after judicial concilliation between counsel, both parties agreed that the government's production of all the previously listed documents requested by Westinghouse, except for the field office summary, along with the additional court-supervised depositions of Starrett and Davis, would satisfy the respondent's Motion For Leave to Take Discovery. After a date was scheduled for those two depositions, both parties filed a stipulation on May 2, 1985, which obviated the need for an in-court examination. Thereafter discovery was closed. A final argument was had on May 15th, at which time the stipulation and exhibits were admitted into evidence.

THE CASE

Joseph H. Sherick, the incumbent Inspector General for the Department of Defense had been in government service for over 40 years. He was previously selected and appointed by the Secretary of Defense to be the Assistant to the Secretary for Review and Oversight. After the enactment of the 1982 Amendment to the Inspector General Act of 1978, President Reagan, obviously impressed with his career and service as anticipated, appointed him as the Inspector General for the DOD by authority of the 1982 Amendment. He was accepted by the Senate with approval and took office in April, 1983.

When Sherick first came into office he assumed total control and attempted eventually to perform in accordance with the promises made to the Committee in the Part 2 Hearing, infra.

The IG stated that he has oversight responsibility for all Department of Defense programs and activities, and to carry out this vast responsibility he is authorized to utilize and coordinate all of the audit, investigative and inspection organizations and resources of the DOD. Although he has an organization of approximately 1,000 people "to promote economy and efficiency as well as to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in a Department of 3 million", the IG must rely upon the resources of the 15,000 auditors and investigators of various accounting agencies in the DOD. It is the interrelation between these agencies which has become the focal point for the refusal by Westinghouse to comply with the subpoena.

The IG has all encompassing oversight responsibility for DOD programs and activities. To carry out this assignment, part of his duties include an evaluation of the "quality and breadth" of each organization that is guided and supervised by the IG. Pursuant to these oversight activities, when the IG uncovers "weaknesses and vulnerabilities" in the practices of the office of the IG or any other DOD auditing agency, the IG is then required to take measures to "reduce these vulnerabilities". (Sherick Affidavit, Document 1, page 1).

In June and July, 1983, the IG initiated a review of certain activities of the DCAA, the largest auditing agency in the DOD. He was thereafter periodically advised as to its progress by review of James H. Curry, the Assistant Inspector General for Audit Policy and Oversight. One area which was covered was the question of the availability to DCAA of certain records by DOD contractors. The records under question included: Board of Director meeting minutes; certain communications between a company and its outside public accounting firm; certain "audit trail" documents, and the reports of the internal audit staff of the contractors.

In each year between at least 1976 and 1983, Westinghouse presented information to the DCAA relating to the costs incurred by its internal audit activity involving defense contracts. A certain proportion of these costs were charged to the government and it approved the payment of these costs. For example, in 1983 the government was billed for and paid the sum of $554,000 as its allocated portion of internal audit costs. Following review and discussion of the allowability and allocability of such costs, the DCAA, each year, recommended approval of those costs for payment by the government until August, 1984. Prior to August, 1984 the audit costs of the respondent were approved on the basis of records other than internal audit reports and without DCAA's access to those reports (Stipulation, Document 31 and the Muhlberg Affidavit).

The evidence in the instant case, consisting of affidavits, exhibits and testimony is primarily concerned with: the IG's review and recommendations of June and July, 1983 regarding DOD auditors' access to contractor records; the request by DCAA through two August 1984 memoranda for the issuance of a subpoena; and the motivation for the issuance by the IG of...