Suspension | The Contracting Education Academy

February 19, 2018 By AMK

DHS OIG issues report on the suspension and debarment program

On January 25, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued report no. OIG-18-41, “DHS Needs to Strengthen Its Suspension and Debarment Program” (Report). While many may feel that the review, findings, and recommendations of the DHS suspension and debarment program are of little or no consequence to them, there are some interesting takeaways that may provide some important signals to the government contracting community at large.

This Report stems from an October 2016 request by the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who requested the OIG review the suspension and debarment practices of DHS. As set out in the Report, the OIG found that:

The DHS Suspension and Debarment Instruction is outdated and is missing needed information and guidance;
DHS did not adequately document a majority (5 of 7) of administrative agreements approved between fiscal year 2012 and February of 2017;
DHS did not have a centralized system to track suspension and debarment activities, which may have contributed to DHS’s inaccurate FY2016 reporting of suspension and debarments;
For an 8-month period, FEMA’s suspension and debarment staff did not promptly update government-wide systems to reflect debarments and administrative agreements; and
Staffing levels within DHS may be hindering efficient and effective handling of suspensions and debarments.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=87d53f1f-3a3f-4efe-8dbe-cc61998edecd

April 26, 2017 By AMK

Changes coming to SAM.gov

The General Services Administration (GSA) is planning to test a new version of the System for Award Management (SAM.gov).

This means that plans GSA made as far back as 2001 may be realized sometime in 2018.

At present, SAM.gov is the federal database where vendors register to do business with the government. When it went live in mid-2012, SAM was introduced as portal where, over time, several different government databases would be consolidated. Federal Agency Registration (FedReg), the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), and the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) were among the systems to be first consolidated under the SAM umbrella.

The 2012 introduction of SAM initially was delayed and, once launched, many problems were encountered by vendors and government agencies alike. Since then, SAM experienced a data breach in 2013, cost overruns, accessibility issues, and periodic interface difficulties with SBA’s small business database.

GSA now plans to resume work on the original vision for SAM: the consolidation of as many as 10 websites.

A new test site, at beta.sam.gov, reportedly is to launch between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2017.

The objective of the consolidated web site is to reduce the federal contracting burden on contractors and government officials alike by creating a single place to access a range of data, including contractor registration information, contract award data on prime contractors and subcontractors, and information about companies excluded from pursuing government work.

Eventually, the functions of 10 existing sites — including SAM.gov, the Federal Procurement Data System (fpds.gov); Federal Business Opportunities (fbo.gov), the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (fsrs.gov), and the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (fapiis.gov) — will become a part of the SAM beta site. Once testing is completed, all of the added functionality will become a part of a new SAM.gov site. The sites that are merged into SAM.gov then will be retired.

Improvements, such as search features, will continue to be made to existing sites as the new site is being tested, GSA says.

August 25, 2016 By AMK

ISDC reports a ‘plateauing’ in suspension and debarment activity

After a steady climb in the past five years, the number of suspensions and debarments in remained relatively static in FY15.

Each year, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) reports to Congress on the status of the Federal suspension and debarment system. With its mission of assisting agencies to build and maintain efficient and effective suspension and debarment activities, the ISDC is uniquely situated to provide comments and insight on the status of suspension and debarment practices generally.

In its Fiscal Year 2015 report, the ISDC commented on an interesting trend in agency suspension and debarment proceedings. Fiscal years 2010 through 2014 saw a steady trend of increased suspension and debarment activity—with actual suspensions and debarments increasing from 1,585 in FY 2010 to 2,938 in FY 2014. The ISDC observed that “Data for FY 2015 . . . shows a plateauing of the number of suspension and debarment actions,” with suspensions and debarments remaining relatively static at 2,791.

Suspensions

Proposed Debarments

Debarments

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/08/isdc-reports-a-plateauing-in-suspension-and-debarment-activity/

December 29, 2015 By AMK

Suspension and debarment: A new approach

Contractors and government contracts attorneys are likely to see — if they haven’t already — a rise in the number of cases in which individuals, rather than corporate entities, are targeted by government officials for suspension and debarment.

This is significant because, under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the misconduct of an individual can be imputed to the contractor, causing the contractor to lose its ability to receive federal contracts.

Attention to the misconduct of individuals was encouraged by a September 9, 2015 memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates entitled “Individual Accountability for Corporate Wrongdoing.” The memorandum instructs government officials “consistently” to “focus on individuals” throughout an investigation. Ms. Yates followed up her memorandum with remarks prepared for a conference held November 16, 2015 in Washington, D.C., in which she stated that the memorandum ushers in “a new policy designed to ensure that individual accountability is at the heart of [the government’s] corporate enforcement strategy.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=447276

See FAR Subpart 9.4 on the subject of Debarment, Suspension and Ineligibility here: https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%209_4.html

September 1, 2015 By AMK

Agency pulls a fast one at GAO … and gets caught

After a protest was filed at the GAO, a procuring agency delayed implementing the mandatory statutory suspension of work, then amended the awardee’s contract to permit the awardee to fully perform before the suspension actually kicked in.

Then the agency got caught.

In a recent decision, the GAO sustained a protest because the agency had circumvented the GAO’s bid protest process. But while the agency got busted–a good thing–the penalty it will pay is less than satisfactory.

The GAO’s decision in SCB Solutions, Inc.–Reconsideration, B-410450.2 (Aug. 12, 2015) involved a Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) RFQ for personal identity verification cards. The RFQ was issued via the GSA’s eBuy system to holders of GSA Schedule 70 contracts. The RFQ stated that award would be made on a lowest-priced, technically-acceptable (LPTA) basis.

The RFQ called for the issuance of a single, fixed-price delivery order for 400,000 PIV cards. The PIV cards were to be provided in five production runs of 80,000 each. Within 30 days of award, the contractor was to deliver a test run of 100 cards. After the agency accepted the test run, the contractor was to deliver the remainder of the first production run; delivery of the other production runs would follow.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/agency-pulls-a-fast-one-at-gao-and-gets-caught/

After a steady climb in the past five years, the number of suspensions and debarments in remained relatively static in FY15.

Contractors and government contracts attorneys are likely to see — if they haven’t already — a rise in the number of cases in which individuals, rather than corporate entities, are targeted by government officials for suspension and debarment.

After a protest was filed at the GAO, a procuring agency delayed implementing the mandatory statutory suspension of work, then amended the awardee’s contract to permit the awardee to fully perform before the suspension actually kicked in.

Then the agency got caught.

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