The director of a central contracting office at the General Services Administration has been sentenced to one year in prison for a nepotism conspiracy, while her husband received 18 months, the Justice Department announced.

Helen Renee Ballard, 52, and Robert “Steve” Ballard, 56, both of Brandywine, Md., pleaded guilty last March to conspiracy to make false statements to authorities concerning the work qualifications Robert Ballard used in attempting to obtain work for federal agencies and contractors. Helen Ballard, who left GSA in 2016, had been director of the agency’s Central Office Contracting Division from May 2006 to May 2011.

Part of the more than $200,000 scheme executed from 2010-2014 involved inducing an Arlington-Va.,-based contractor to hire Steve Ballard based on false statements about his education, qualifications and status as the husband of Renee Ballard, who would supervise the contract in question.

The couple acknowledged causing more than 139 false employment applications and fake certification documents to be submitted to the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the State Department, the Transportation and Security Administration, the Veterans Affairs Department, the Education Department, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Labor Department, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Internal Revenue Service.

“The Ballards sent Steve Ballard’s false resume to the Executive Office of the President in an attempt to obtain employment there,” the release said. Steve Ballard also submitted falsified applications to six private contractors working for GSA and Customs and Border Protection, among other agencies.

A co-conspirator, Donna C. Hughes, 32, of Lanham, Md., who worked under Renee Ballard as a contracting officer at GSA, pleaded guilty on April 21 and last week received a year of probation.

The sentencing in federal court Alexandria, Va., was announced by Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and GSA Inspector General Carol Ochoa.