IBM blackballed in US federal ambush
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IBM has been temporarily barred from bidding for new contracts with US Federal government agencies. The company blames the suspension on a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency - of which it had no knowledge, until it read about the ban on a government website.
The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has served IBM and some employees with grand jury subpoenas requesting testimony and documents regarding business between employees of the EPA and IBM employees.
IBM learned of its temporary banishment through a third-party source last Friday. Upon looking at the US General Services Administration website, the company found it was on the excluded parties list, along with minimal information.
"Prior to learning of the temporary suspension on March 28, 2008, IBM was not aware that the EPA or US Attorney’s office were considering any action against IBM," the company said today.
IBM declined to discuss specifics, but spokesman Fred McNeese said the company understands the issue is over whether it improperly received insider EPA information concerning a contract.
McNeese said IBM intends to fully co-operate with the investigation, and is trying to obtain additional information.
Under federal law, IBM has 30 days to contest the scope of the suspension — which the company intends to do. The ban can continue for an initial period of up to one year pending the completion of the investigation.
The disputed bid was originally submitted to the EPA in March 2006.
Last year, transaction-type business with the US government was about one per cent of IBM's total revenues. ®
COMMENTS
Nah, something doesn't smell right here...
I don't know... the close proximity to April Fools makes me wonder, but in all candor, either way, it just doesn't pass the smell test. Big government makes for even bigger business... It would be my relatively uneducated guess that a high ranking member of some US Federal Government "Blue Ribbon Panel" or "Industry Adviser" to some investigating committee, either in the EPA, GAO or DHS, and also just happens to be either a CEO, COO or CFO of one of IBM's competition.
And IF this is true, it's just a passive/aggressive exhibition of the abuse of power and/or competitive "shot across the bow".
While I'm not that high in the food chain, I do work for IBM's competition, and I certainly wouldn't put it past any of the greedy fuckers at our helm.
As a matter of fact, of the few in the "black palace" I've ever met face to face, I am convinced that every damn one of them would sell their dying child's organs in the name of "shareholder equity" and unofficially, the executive stock performance bonus of a 2 or 3X salary bonus... Kids are cheap, compared to personal net worth.
RE: corestore
"....All they need to do is threaten to withdraw mainframe software licenses....." You are sadly mistaken. Being in bed with the government (in fact, either side of the Atlantic, believe it or not) means they can royally scr*w you as and when they wish! A potential issue for IBM is that if the US Government decides those same mainframes are providing an essential service, they can insist IBM continues to provide support for that service long after the date IBM would normally stop support to ordinary customers.
A simple example of this was the Y2K shenanigans - all three major UNIX vendors were licking their lips at the thought of all the non-Y2K-compliant kit they thought the US and UK govs would have to replace, only to be told that they would have to shut-up and sort out workarounds and continued support for as long as the govs desired. There are still plenty of government non-Y2K-compliant and supposedly "unsupported" servers and mainframes chugging away!
My bet is someone at the EPA is looking to build a name for themselves at IBM's expense.
@cybersaur
Um no, more likely some in IBM said something about a high rank gov official , and now this is pay back.
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