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The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

IBM Corporation

EPA Suspension

Date: 03/27/2008 (Date of Announcement)

Misconduct Type: Ethics

Enforcement Agency: EPA

Contracting Party: EPA

Court Type: Administrative

Amount: $0

Disposition: Suspend/Debar - Company

Synopsis: A notice posted on the General Services Administration’s Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) Web site announced that IBM was indefinitely suspended from doing business with the federal government. The information provided on the EPLS Web site did not give a reason for the suspension, only that it was initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency “pursuant to Executive Order 12549 and the agency implementing regulations based on an indictment or other adequate evidence (a) to suspect the commission of an offense that is a cause for debarment or (b) that other causes for debarment under the agency regulations may exist.” However, the next day, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia issued subpoenas to various IBM employees to testify before a grand jury concerning allegations that IBM violated the procurement integrity provisions of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act while bidding on an EPA contract. About a week after it had been imposed, the government lifted the suspension after IBM agreed to cooperate with the EPA’s and the U.S. Attorney’s ongoing investigations.