International Development and Programs (Development Work) - International Development and Programs (Development Work)

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) stipulate that suspension and debarment actions are to be used to protect the public interest (FAR 9.402 and 22 CFR 208.110(e) and (c)). To carry out this purpose, the FAR and CFR provide causes that an official may cite for suspension and debarment actions.

FAR 9.406-2 and 9.407-2 cite the causes used for suspending or debarring a contractor. Causes are listed in 22 CFR 208.800 and 208.700 for suspending or debarring a participant in a nonprocurement program. Both statutes seek to exclude parties that are determined not to be responsible enough at present to carry out Federal awards.

The FAR and CFR provide timeframes within which those notified of a proposed debarment must respond, the agency must make its final debarment decision, and written notice of its final debarment decision must be provided (FAR 9.406-3(c)(4) and 22 CFR 208.820(a) and 208.870).

For procurement, the final notice of a decision to debar must be sent to the contractor at most 30 days from the date of the contractor’s response to the agency’s notice of intent. For nonprocurement, the agency’s final notification of a decision to debar must be sent at most 45 days from the date of the participant’s response, and notice must be made promptly. For both types of debarment actions, when no response is received within the prescribed period, final notice of a debarment must be sent sooner.

AUDIT REPORT NO. 9-000-10-001-P October 1, 2009

This information is derived from audit reports of the Office of the Inspector General. The source refers to the audit report, which is available on this site as part of the Audit Database Project: an educational tool for compliance with USAID regulations.  Please see the disclaimer of this site before using this information.