Greenhouse protested to her superiors for years regarding witnessed contract abuses and went public in 2005 with her allegations of fraud.

The award was presented by the ACFE to Greenhouse at the organization's 17th Annual Fraud Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas. The award is presented to recognize annually the selfless act of coming forward for the soul purpose of righting a wrong.

In an interview published in the July/August 2006 issue of Fraud Magazine, Greenhouse explained that she spoke out because she was “doing the job I took an oath of office to do.”
"In my job as principal assistant responsible for contracting, federal law says that government business must be conducted in a manner that is impartial, nonpreferential and above reproach," Greenhouse said.  "I am a public servant and I took that directive seriously."

In response to Greenhouse’s allegations, she was demoted by her U.S. Army Corps. Of Engineers Superiors from Senior Executive Service Contracting to a GS-15 program manager.

"My removal from office continues to have a chilling effect on the government contracting community," Greenhouse said. "I took great pride in the fact that my past accomplishments were viewed with enthusiasm within the federal contracting community. My removal serves to clarify that the power structure will no longer tolerate efforts to curb contract abuse."

While being recognized as a whistleblower to misconduct, Greenhouse said she considers herself as simply trying to do a good job.

"Humbly, I thought of myself as just someone who was trying to do my job to the best of my ability, giving every fiber of my being to protect the public trust and making sure that at all times that the nation and our war fighters were getting the best value for the goods and services that would get them to the battlefield and provide them the facility to fight and to win," she said.