A 54-year old Virginia executive, Mark Farmer, was indicted in October for allegedly providing things of value to the former director of two Ohio Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers. The alleged quid pro quo was that, in exchange for these items of value, the VA director provided confidential information to Farmer about various VA construction projects. The charges in the…
A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that the number of suspensions and debarment actions government-wide is up more than 162% over the past five years. The increase is even greater – a stunning 1,326% -- for six agencies previously criticized by GAO: Commerce, HHS, DOJ, State, Treasury and FEMA. These agencies began to…
We reported on the saga of two contractors suspended solely based on their affiliation with another company that had actually been indicted for overbilling the Government on subsistence contracts performed in the Middle East. At that time, having detailed the contractors’ travails, we suggested that the complete story had yet to be written. Barring an appeal to the United States Supreme…
A recent case serves as a reminder that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) does not review agency suspension decisions – even where they impact ongoing protest litigation.
In Inchcape Shipping Services Holding, Ltd., B-402687.10; B-402687.11 (Comp. Gen. Dec. 9, 2013), protester, Inchcape Shipping Services Holding, Ltd. (ISS) of Dubai, challenged awards for maritime husbanding support…
Even brief exclusions from participation in federal contracting or programs can seriously harm a company. Needless to say, long term exclusions can be fatal. Thus, the risks of suspension and debarment inherent in doing business with the government cannot be overlooked or underestimated.
Recently contractors, government personnel and legislators alike have expressed concern…
On June 12, 2013, Congress heard testimony on the state of the federal government’s suspension and debarment system. What it heard may mean trouble ahead.
John Neumann, GAO’s Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management, was one of the individuals who testified. His testimony was a follow-up to two reports issued by GAO, in 2011 and 2012, regarding (i) agency underuse of suspension…
Agility Defense & Government Services, Inc., et al. v. U.S. Department of Defense, a case we have reported on twice before as it winds its way through the judicial system, is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and ready for oral argument. The importance of this case is that it tackles head-on the question of whether the FAR rule permitting a suspension and debarment…
In March of this year two Whistleblowers filed a complaint against their employer, Jorge Scientific Corporation (Jorge), a company that received almost a billion dollars in federal contracts for covert operations performed in the Middle East, including the Army’s “Legacy” projects in Kabul and Qandahar Province – projects intended to help Afghanis provide their own security. According to…
The Government’s continued emphasis on rooting out fraud, waste and abuse appears to be paying off, at least in terms of the increased number of contractors being identified as ineligible for federal government contracts.
According to a new report touted by Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan, suspensions and debarments of contractors that violate federal contracting…
As previously reported here, United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama heard an important case of first impression regarding the suspension of a subsidiary based on its relationship with a suspended parent company. The court held that the subsidiary could not be suspended for longer than eighteen months unless the government initiated legal proceedings against the…
The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310), if enacted in its current form, would require agency officials to suspend or debar a contractor for misrepresenting itself as a small business.
The bill would make the measures mandatory:
Section 1683—Requirement Fraudulent Businesses Be Suspended or Debarred
On Friday, March 2, 2012, United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson partially affirmed and partially struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) “Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act” regulations in National Association of Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board, No. 1:11-cv-01629-ABJ (D.D.C. March 2,…
