Warren Stokes Debate Over Who Wields Federal Contract Bans
August 15, 2022, Bloomberg Law
Mike Wagner and Fred Levy were quoted by Bloomberg Government discussing how the government should use its authority to suspend and debar companies from participating in federal contracts. Elizabeth Warren recently called on the DOJ for stricter enforcement to restrict companies that are engaged in defrauding the public from doing business with the government.
Current regulations give agency suspension and debarment officials broad discretion for enforcement, Mike said, adding that an officer’s decision to withhold contracts can add up to a simple, “I just don’t trust you."
Mike explained how agencies have suspension and debarment authority because cases of contractor wrongdoing involve business choices that directly affect the departments. “Inherent in any decision to suspend or debar is some assessment of the trade-off of depriving the agency of what is, in many cases, extremely critical—products, services, supplies, etc.—that the warfighter, that civil servants, rely on,” he said.
Fred told Bloomberg Government that most of his suspension and debarment cases involve actions “that don’t arise out of government contracts.” The companies are being investigated for securities violations or for flouting laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
“A lot of suspension and debarment officials use the threat of suspension debarment as an opportunity to help make companies better and to help them bolster their ethics and compliance programs and to bring in outside oversight,” Fred said. “They really look at it as a tool to work with industry and improve industry—not as a punitive measure.
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