You’ve discovered an OIG exclusion blooper. Now what?
If you’re like most administrators, you’d probably opt to fire the excluded employee, bury the evidence, and hope that the OIG never finds out about it. After all, who in their right mind would actively call the OIG’s attention to a mistake like that?!
Anyone who wants to prevent a worse mistake. That’s who.
Under the OIG’s self-disclosure clause, contractors are required by law to self-disclose upon discovering an excluded individual within their employee ranks. Failure to self-disclose can result in contractor suspension or debarment. Not something you’d want to play around with.
On the face of it, self-disclosure is scary. It means shoving your failures directly under the nose of the OIG, and inviting whatever repercussions may come about as a result.
On the other hand, from a damage-control perspective, self-disclosure is the wisest course of action to take. It may result in fees and fines; but it will also protect your company or organization from full-scale suspension, not to mention the whopping fees that are sure to be slapped onto a facility perceived as willfully flouting the law. Self-disclosure gives you the chance to explain and defend yourself before you’ve been accused.
A confession in time indicates your contrition and willingness to cooperate with the authorities. And in return, the authorities will be that much more likely to cooperate with you.
For instructions on submitting a Self Disclosure Form, see https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/self-disclosure-info/files/Contractor_Self-Disclosure_Guidance_April_2014.pdf.
Please refer to this resource for more helpful information on OIG Exclusions and LEIE searches.
