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Return to Article: OMB issues memo on new contractor self-reporting rule

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  Who are these people conjuring up hideous, broken, unenforceable, unworkable, loop holes for fraudulent actions at the expense of the trusting (maybe not anymore) hardworking American tax payer. Who at the working level is going to have time to enforce legal actions against any contractor stupid enough to self flog. And even better yet who will protect the honest person from being called a whistleblower, receiving an inordinate amount pain in their lives, being ostracized, in most case fired from a job that they were dedicated to and most of all fired from the government that they sought to protect????

  L Posted November 14, 2008 1:58 PM
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  The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is glad that this rule is being implemented, but we feel it should have even broader disclosure requirements. Just because a company has no contract-related violations doesn't mean it is per se "responsible" or "ethical." What about environmental violations? Antitrust cases? Labor law violations? What about misconduct that happens on the state/local level or in another country?

  Neil Gordon Posted November 14, 2008 12:53 PM
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  Does this apply to CS as well? It seems what is good for the goose is good for the gander

  dan ketter Posted November 14, 2008 12:13 PM
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  How will this stand up against a Fifth Amendment challenge that one cannot be compelled to self-incriminate? The administrative/civil side is one thing but I don't see how the government could actually pursue a prosecution on criminal grounds? Not a lawyer, just someone how's read the Constitution...

  RickT Posted November 14, 2008 9:39 AM
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  The government overpayment provisions of this rule is an important one, especially for large multi-national corporations. It is very interesting how many large corporation have very comprehensive accounting and cost control systems in place, however, they always seem unable to identify overpayments on their government contracts. In my opinion, this will raise the awareness of this issue and serve the government well. The criminal contracting requirement should be a pretty straightforward dedetmination by the company, as such violations are generally initiated by the government and therefore should be easy for the corporation to identify internally and report up the management chain...that is, if they choose to track and report within their internal accounting and auditing structure.

  My concern, however, is that the small business community will take the rule seriously and report violations ...therefore giving the government contracting community and the OIGs another excuse to not use small businesses.The irony of the overpayment provisions is that even with the passage of the prompt payments provisions in the 1980s, the government is still notorious for not paying its bills on time, especially to the small business community. This is the sector of the business community that usually need the government contract payments the most to meet payrolls and keep their businesses operating.

  Joe Capuano/Small Business Advocate Posted November 14, 2008 9:15 AM