Suspension & Debarment
Avoiding the Death Penalty.
Debarment and suspension can be the equivalent of a "death sentence" for contractors with significant government business. The federal government has taken an increasingly aggressive approach in debarring or suspending contractors who plead or are otherwise found guilty of criminal conduct. Also, contractors now risk suspension or debarment if they fail to follow the new mandatory disclosure rules that require disclosure to the government of "credible evidence" of a violation of certain criminal fraud laws or the False Claims Act.
Our attorneys have extensive experience helping clients address and, in many cases, eliminate threats of government suspension or debarment. We have represented both large and small clients before Suspension and Debarment Officials and their counsel in most all federal executive agencies as well as the District of Columbia, and we have worked with clients at all stages of suspension or debarment, including even before any official action is taken by an agency Suspension and Debarment Official. In addition, we have helped form the compliance standards in the Sentencing Guidelines that Suspension and Debarment Officials use in determining corporate "present responsibility," participated in the development of the suspension & debarment procedures in the FAR, and co-authored "The Practitioner's Guide to Suspension & Debarment," which is often called the "Debarment bible". This deep experience helps explains why most of the major suspension and debarment cases - and many, many smaller cases - in recent years have been handled by our attorneys. Our attorneys are personally known to all of the key agency debarring officials and are active with them in professional associations.
Representative Matters:
We have successfully resolved proposed or actual suspensions and debarments for scores of clients. Due to the sensitivity of these proceedings, we cannot discuss in detail our representative matters. However, several recent examples of our work in the suspension and debarment area include the following:
- Successfully achieved the lifting of a company-wide suspension within a matter of days for a large company that was suspended without notice for alleged Procurement Integrity Act violations.
- Assisted multi-national company avoid suspension and debarment for alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by successfully negotiating with both criminal and civil investigative agencies as well as the agency debarring official.
- Successfully converted a client's suspension and proposal for debarment for alleged mischarging into an administrative agreement, which allowed the client to continue performing government contracts