Rewarding Bad Actors

"Today the committee continues its oversight of the Federal Government's use of suspension and debarment ... Suspension and debarment can be an effective tool for Federal agencies to ensure contractor performance. Unfortunately, as we will hear today, the suspension and debarment tool often goes unused ... In February of last year, we held a hearing on the operation and use of the Excluded Parties List System. We found that some Government agencies were ignoring Federal regulations by awarding funds to businesses that had been suspended or debarred. We also found that Federal agencies took far too long to suspend or debar, if they did it at all. Now, a year later, it seems little has changed."--P. 1-2.