US Suspends IBM from Seeking New Federal Contracts - INFORMATION PROVIDED BY EPA EMPLOYEE (
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INFORMATION PROVIDED BY EPA EMPLOYEE
"What we are saying is that the case stems from information
provided by an EPA employee to IBM employees," McNeese said.
"Prior to Friday, there was not a hint that there were any type
of issues with this contract."
McNeese referred further questions about the contract to
the EPA.
EPA Press Secretary Jonathan Shradar said in a statement
that his agency temporarily suspended IBM from receiving new
federal contracts or assistance on March 27. The contract at
issue was never awarded after questions arose over the IBM bid,
he said.
"As the matter is currently pending before the suspending
official, the agency will have no further comment at this
time," the EPA official said in a statement.
IBM said it was unaware of any potential action by the EPA
or the U.S. Attorney's office until March 28.
"IBM has initiated discussions with the EPA and the U.S.
Attorney's office to obtain additional information and is
cooperating with the investigations," IBM said in a statement.
Under federal procurement rules, IBM has 30 days to contest
the scope of the suspension. The ban on federal contracts can
last up to one year, pending the completion of the government
investigation.
Depending on how long the suspension remains in place, IBM
could potentially lose out on U.S. government contracts worth
hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars that major
rivals such as CSC (CSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), EDS (EDS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) or Affiliated Computer
Services Inc (ACS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) could be in a position to win instead.
IBM said it has served the federal government for many
decades as a vendor in good standing and is "committed to the
highest standards of business ethics." All employees receive
business conduct training with special training for employees
seeking federal government business, it added.
IBM grew up out of a company founded by former U.S. Census
bureau employee Herman Hollerith, who developed punch-card
tabulation machines to automate counting of the 1890 census.
The Computer-Tabulating-Recording Co was renamed IBM in 1924.
(Editing by Braden Reddall, Andre Grenon and Mohammad
Zargham)
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