Debarment and Suspension of Government Contractors: An Overview of the Law Including Recently Enacted and Proposed Amendments

Debarment and suspension are among the techniques agencies use to ensure that they deal only with contractors who are responsible in fulfilling their legal and contractual obligations. Debarment generally removes contractors eligibility for federal contracts for a fixed period of time, while suspension removes their eligibility for the duration of an investigation or litigation. Persons may be debarred or suspended from federal contracting on procurement or nonprocurement grounds. Nonprocurement debarments are discussed in a separate report, CRS Report R40993, Debarment and Suspension Provisions Applicable to Federal Grant Programs. Some statutes require or allow agency officials to exclude contractors that have engaged in conduct prohibited under the statute. Statutes prescribe the debarments duration, and agency heads generally cannot waive the exclusion. The Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR also authorizes debarment and suspension of contractors. Such administrative debarments can result when contractors are convicted of, found civilly liable for, or found by agency officials to have committed certain offenses, or when other causes affect contractor responsibility. Contractors are entitled to due process before being excluded from government contracts, although the nature of the process due to them varies for debarments and suspensions. The magnitude of federal spending on contracts, coupled with recent instances of alleged contractor misconduct, has prompted Congress to consider ways to make debarment and suspension more effective means of ensuring that the government does not deal with nonresponsible contractors. The 111th Congress has enacted several statutes pertaining to debarment and suspension and is considering additional legislation.