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It appears the Defense Department agrees with PSC’s views on how suspension and debarment should be used: as tools to protect the government, not as weapons to automatically punish contractors accused of wrongdoing.
In testimony before the Wartime Contracting Commission on March 28, Ash Carter, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the panel:
“There is a potential unintended consequence of turning suspensions and debarments from tools to protect the government’s interest into tools that automatically punish contractors…Such an approach may have a chilling effect on contractor cooperation in identifying and fixing real problems.”
Well said. PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway expressed similar sentiments in his latest Washington Technology column. In it, Soloway explains why the immediate suspension or debarment of contractors accused of wrongdoing runs counter to the basic tenets of due process and inappropriately shifts the role of suspension and debarment.
