investigating government contractors by ron nixon

Investigating Government Contractors

Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism

SABEW Fall Conference New York, Oct. 4, 2013

 Ron  Nixon  • Washington  correspondent  for  The  

New  York  Times  •  Has  inves9gated:  

o  contractors  during  Hurricane  Katrina,  o  problems  with  contracts  at  the  Small  

Business  Administra9on,    o  contractors  who  are  too  big  to  ban  despite  

criminal  and  civil  charges  and  o  contractors  who  were  doing  business  

simultaneously  with  the  U.S.  and  Iran.  

What You Will Learn • Why  covering  government  contractors  is  important  and  

affects  all  beats.  •  How  contractors  are  cri9cal  to  the  func9oning  of  

government.  •  How  contrac9ng  works.  •  How  to  track  government  spending  on  contrac9ng.  •  How  to  inves9ga9ve  fraud,  waste  and  abuse  in  contrac9ng.  

Why Investigate Contractors?

●  Governments spends billions each year on contractors.

●  Contractors are taking on larger roles as government shrinks.

●  They perform duties from buying guns and planes to analyzing intelligence (Edward Snowden) to delivering food and answering FOIA requests. Photo by abcnews.com

Why Investigate Contractors? ●  There have been a number of instances of waste,

fraud and abuse involving contractors. ●  Contractors play a role in legislative and

regulatory policy.

Pho

to b

y U

.S. A

rmy

C

orps

of E

ngin

eers

Spending on Contractors 2003-13

Source: usaspending.gov

A few ideas for

stories on contractors

Photo by flickr user notfrancois

Too Big to Ban

The Fourth Branch

Hedging their bets

Not So Small Biz

Hitting the Lottery

Following the Rules

Resources for covering government contractors

All The Government Contractors

Your Turn Search for "Lockheed Martin" at

usaspending.gov

The Contractor’s Data Contractor

FedBizOps

Getting High/Low Grades?

Contractors Behaving Badly?

The Federal Register

FAR cases

Protesting Contracts

SBA Size Protest

The Watchdogs

Say It Again, SAM!

From Government Employee to Contractors

From Employee to Contractors, continued

Government vs. Private

The Rulemakers

The Regulators

Questions? Ron Nixon The New York Times Washington bureau nixon@nytimes.com @nixonron