On March 5, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (“ISDC”) released a consolidated report to Congress on suspension and debarment developments for FY12 and FY13. Issued in the face of continued legislative pressure to utilize suspension and debarment, the report documents an overall rise in the number of suspensions and debarments – from 4,639 in FY2012 to 4,842 in FY2013. The number of case referrals to an agency’s Suspension and Debarment Officer (“SDO”) also increased from 3,700 in FY12 to 3,942 in FY13; and the number of agencies’ declinations to pursue action decreased from 200 to 154. While the trends observed in the report indicate that some agencies are making a greater effort to enhance the transparency and due process in suspension and debarment proceedings, other trends indicate that the process is potentially being used as a punitive measure.

Section 873(a)(7) of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for FY2009 requires the ISDC to annually provide a report of various suspension and debarment-related updates to Congress, including: (1) progress and efforts to improve the suspension and debarment system, and (2) each ISDC agency’s activities and accomplishments in the government-wide debarment system. The report focused particularly on the activities of defense agencies, as many of them “have more mature suspension and debarment programs.”
Continue Reading Suspension and Debarments on the Rise and Likely to Increase Further, ISDC Reports to Congress

Developments continue surrounding the issue of in-sourcing. Turning first to the developments at the Court of Federal Claims, Judge Horn, recently dismissed an in-sourcing claim after finding that Plaintiff was not an interested party. Triad Logistics Servs. Corp. v. United States, No. 11-43C (Crt. Fed. Cl. Apr. 16, 2011).  The Court held that while it has subject matter jurisdiction over in-sourcing claims generally, with regards to the particular in-sourcing claim at issue, the Plaintiff was not an interested party because the contract had already been completed. Accordingly, the Court found that Plaintiff lacked standing and dismissed the case.

To understand the scope of the Triad decision, a brief analysis of the procedural posture presented in the case is required. Plaintiff, Triad Logistics Service Corporation provided vehicle operations and maintenance services to the Air Force. During performance under the third option year, the Air Force informed Triad that it would be in-sourcing the services provided under the contract, and therefore not exercising a fourth option year. Instead, the Air Force modified the contract to extend performance for a brief period, at which time the contract ended by its own terms. Triad initially protested at the Government Accountability Office, which was dismissed on November 24, 2010 for failure to set forth a valid basis of protest. 

Triad then filed it’s first protest at the Court of Federal Claims on November 29, 2010, the same day its extended contract ended. At the initial hearing on Triad’s first protest, the Air Force admitted there were errors in the cost calculation comparing the cost of contracting for the services versus performing the services internally. The Court therefore dismissed that complaint to allow the Air Force to perform a recalculation and make a final in-sourcing decision. On December 16, 2010, the Air Force again concluded that it would be less expensive to in-source the services. 

Triad filed its second protest at the Court, the one at issue here, on January 14, 2011. The Court dismissed the case, holding that Triad was not an interested party because its contract had ended and government employees had begun performing the contract functions prior to when the second complaint was filed. Therefore, the Court found that Triad no longer possessed the required direct economic interest in a contract to qualify as an interested party. The Court seems to suggest that Triad’s claim may be more akin to an out-sourcing claim, which the Appropriations Acts strongly discourage. Continue Reading In-sourcing Update

Although not conveyed in those exact words, that sentiment was expressed at several points by Chairman McCaskill during a hearing on April 17 before the Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on The Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act of 2012 (S. 2139). Why? Because the Air