By Oles Morrison on August 23, 2017 | Posted in Bid Protests
With every new administration, there is both great uncertainty and opportunity in federal government contracting. To help you navigate the rough seas of doing business with the federal government in this new administration, we have assembled nationally recognized practitioners who will cover topics relevant to government contractors large and small, novice […]
By Adam K. Lasky on March 28, 2017 | Posted in Labor
Last month, we wrote about the House passing a resolution (H.J. Res. 37) pursuant to the Congressional Review Act to repeal the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (commonly known as the contractor “Blacklisting” rule). At the time we predicted the resolution would also pass the Senate and be signed by President Trump. On March […]
By Adam K. Lasky on February 2, 2017 | Posted in Labor
Back in October 2016, we wrote about the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (commonly known as the contractor “Blacklisting” rule) and how its implementation had been temporarily halted by a federal court in Texas. The Blacklisting rule would have allowed agencies to essentially debar contractors on a contract-by-contract basis […]
By Alix K. Town on June 2, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
Last week we discussed the FY2014 Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee Report released in April, and discussed how the data in that report is compiled. This week we are breaking down the numbers in the report. FY 2014 saw an increase in overall numbers of suspensions, proposed debarments, and debarments. There […]
By Alix K. Town on May 28, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
It’s the time of year again to obsess over numbers that are mostly irrelevant. On April 1, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee released its FY2014 report releasing the number of exclusion actions government-wide that agencies initiated. These numbers include suspensions, proposed debarments, and debarments as well as administrative agreements. […]
By Alix K. Town on April 21, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
In the previous post, the World Bank’s system for debarment was discussed. This post discusses the collateral impacts of a World Bank debarment in the context of the World Bank’s debarment of Alstom SA. What did the World Bank debarment of Alstom mean in the broader context of international procurement? […]
By Alix K. Town on April 1, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
On February 25, 2015, the World Bank lifted its debarment of Alstom SA. The company had been debarred after it was discovered it had made improper payments for consultant services to an entity controlled by a former senior government official on a World Bank-finance project in Zambia in 2002. The terms of the debarment required […]
By Alix K. Town on January 15, 2015 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
This month I wanted share an article I recently found on the OECD Foreign Bribery Report, written by Richard Bistrong. Mr. Bistrong is a former international sales executive who himself was convicted of bribery and debarred, and Mr. Bistrong spent 14 ½ months in prison. Prior to his conviction, Mr. […]
By Alix K. Town on December 4, 2014 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
In the not so very distant past, companies mainly needed to worry about exclusion from public contracting in the United States. However, the exclusion trend has caught on internationally. Recently, Canada has revised their exclusion policies to require companies to certify that neither the company nor its affiliates have committed a […]
By Alix K. Town on September 30, 2014 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
While suspension and debarment has long been a Federal Government action, state and local governments are starting to adopt the practice as well. For example, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the county contracting code was amended in 2012 to require a 5 year debarment of contractors convicted of bribery and other […]
By Alix K. Town on September 22, 2014 | Posted in Suspension and Debarment
Debarment is not just for ethics violations anymore. Suspending and Debarring Officials are looking to a new source for referrals – Contracting Officers. FAR 9.406-2(b)(1)(i)(A) and FAR 9.406-2(b)(1)(i)(B) allow Suspending and Debarring Officials to debar companies for a history of performance issues or a willful failure to perform in accordance […]