Government contractors shouldn’t be celebrating that the number of suspensions and debarments dropped in fiscal 2015.

While it’s good news that agencies used a tool that many procurement attorneys call “capital punishment for contractors” slightly less last year, what really stands out in the annual report from the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee is why the numbers went down.

Agency use of suspension and debarment
Year	Suspensions	Proposed debarments	Debarments
2015	918	2,196	1,873
2014	1,009	2,241	1,929
2013	887	2,229	1,696

Source: Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee’s fiscal 2015 report to Congress.

The real telling number is the 30 percent increase in the use of “show cause” or investigative letters as well as a 25 percent increase in the use of administrative agreements.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2016/07/agencies-talked-punished-less-2015/