The Washington Post Quotes Angela Styles on Impact of Government Contractor Suspensions

Angela Styles, a government contracts partner at Akin Gump, has been quoted by The Washington Post in the article “Border-surveillance subcontractor suspended after cyberattack revealed sensitive monitoring details.”

According to the article, the suspension of the longtime maker of license-plate scanners and other surveillance equipment used along the U.S. border followed an attack by an unknown hacker, with much of the company’s internal data made available for download on the Internet. The punishment temporarily blocks the contractor from doing business with the federal government.

Such suspensions are highly unusual and generally come only after an accusation of major wrongdoing, such as an indictment against executives or a crime against the government, said Styles. She pointed out that the company will have a chance to defend itself and could eventually return to federal contracting. In the meantime, though, it will not be able to do any business with the federal government.

The article reports there will be administrative proceedings to determine whether the company should be debarred, or prohibited for an extended period from working for the federal government. Styles noted that a complete debarment could last several years and would prevent the company from entering into any new prime contracts or subcontracts. Debarred companies, she added, are also often shunned by other firms discouraged by the loss of contracting work.