Fed CIO Kundra takes leave after arrest of ex-subordinate

Computerworld - Just one week after being named the federal government's first-ever CIO, Vivek Kundra took a leave from that job last Thursday, following the bribery-related arrests of a former subordinate in the District of Columbia's IT department and the CEO of an outsourcing contractor.

The FBI arrested the two men and raided the district government's IT offices, which Kundra oversaw as chief technology officer until President Obama named him federal CIO on March 5.

There was nothing in the court documents released at the arraignment of the arrested men to indicate that Kundra had any knowledge of their alleged illegal activities. However, the White House confirmed that Kundra is taking a leave of absence; an administration official who asked not to be named wouldn't discuss the reasons for the leave or say how long it might last.

FBI agents said they found $70,000 in cash in the Washington home of Kundra's onetime subordinate Yusuf Acar after arresting him on bribery charges. Acar, who is the district's acting chief security officer, was ordered to be held without bail after prosecutors said they were concerned that he would try to flee the U.S.

Also arrested was Sushil Bansal, CEO of Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp., a Washington-based offshore outsourcing vendor that has won more than $13 million worth of contracts from the district's government since 2004, according to court documents. Some were awarded after Kundra became CTO in 2007.

In an affidavit, prosecutors alleged that Acar submitted purchase orders to AITC for larger quantities of products than were actually delivered. For instance, the affidavit cited AITC's purchase of 500 McAfee Inc. security software licenses on behalf of the district's government. But, it said, the outsourcer charged the IT department for 2,000 licenses, at an additional cost of $67,321.

The arrests and raid took place while Kundra was speaking at FOSE 2009 conference in Washington. If Kundra was aware of what was going on, it wasn't evident in his speech, which focused on his vision for the federal government's use of IT.

For instance, Kundra promised to undo the government's image as a laggard on technology adoption. "We can be thought leaders when it comes to innovation," he said.

But with the later disclosure that Kundra would go on leave, the question now is when, and maybe whether, he will have a chance to deliver on that vision.

This version of this story originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition.

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