Travis J. Farris has serves as Chief Counsel. Mr. Farris started with DOE OIG in April 2020 as an attorney in the Office of Counsel. In that position, he provided a full range of legal services with special emphasis on suspension and debarment issues.
Previously, Mr. Farris served as Counsel to the Inspector General at the Small Business Administration OIG from 2014 to 2020. At the SBA OIG, he oversaw and coordinated the proactive review of all SBA policies and provision of all OIG legal services. These services included the development of criminal, civil, and administrative cases for violations of SBA programs. Mr. Farris developed and delivered internal SBA OIG training including annual legal updates for criminal investigators, annual ethics training for confidential and public filers. He also established the annual Small Business Procurement Integrity Seminar that equipped members of the Federal oversight community with the knowledge to identify, develop and pursue small business contracting violations. Before assuming the position as Counsel to the IG, Mr. Farris served as an Assistant Counsel with the SBA OIG from 2009 until 2014.
Prior to working with the SBA OIG, Mr. Farris was a trial attorney in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Program Enforcement from 2000 until 2009. In that office, he litigated suspension, debarment, Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, and civil money penalty matters and also assisted the Department of Justice with civil remedies for program integrity violations.
Mr. Farris is also an adjunct instructor with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Training Institute, active with the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, and a graduate of the CIGIE Experienced Leaders program. Mr. Farris has participated in the development of both nonprocurement and procurement suspension and debarment regulations. He often provides training on oversight topics throughout the Federal government.
A native of Burke, Virginia, he received his B.A. in history and English from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and his J.D. from the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia.