BP Suspension: What’s Behind Door Number Two? →
Now that oil company BP has been suspended from federal contracting, who is going to step into the breach and become the Pentagon’s top fuel supplier? More importantly, how much more ethical and responsible will BP’s replacement be? Read more on the POGO blog.
After paying largest criminal fine ever, BP will still receive federal contracts →
Despite paying $4.5 billion, including a record $1.26 billion criminal fine, BP will not be prohibited from receiving future government contracts because it is too big to debar. Federal contractors of a certain size get a pass on fraudulent or even criminal actions because the government relies so heavily on their services. Read more at Bloomberg Businessweek.
“The behavior, words and actions of these BP executives would not be tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall”
a damning quote from a Department of Justice brief ahead of the civil case against BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Go to PBS to see why the U.S. is arguing BP is guilty of “gross negligence.”
“There is a sense that large federal contractors, like BP, are too big to suspend or debar. The government’s over-reliance on such companies can make it nearly impossible to hold them accountable, absent a monetary penalty and promises to keep clean. Temporarily cutting off millions or billions in taxpayer funds seems like a better way to get a company’s attention and truly alter corporate culture.”
POGO General Counsel Scott Amey on the fact that after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Pentagon gave BP a $300 million raise. Read more at Reuters.
