GSA may overhaul suspension database
A proposed rule would create a Web-based Excluded Parties List System
Agencies will begin using a Web-based system to directly enter information regarding contractors that have been suspended or debarred from doing business with the government, if a proposed rule published this week becomes final.
The rule would allow the General Services Administration to stop publishing the quarterly Excluded Parties List report. The Excluded Parties List System, which GSA has been running for the past year and a half as a pilot project, would become the official repository for such data.
If the rule is finalized, it will allow agency officials to directly enter data on companies that have been suspended, debarred, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible by an agency or excluded by an agency. It also would allow online retrieval of information that currently is available only through Freedom of Information Act procedures.
The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council proposed the rule. Public comments are due by Jan. 30, 2004.