Investigating Government

Contractors Ron Nixon, The New York Times

Poll Question #1 Have you covered government

contractors before?

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.

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Spending on Contractors 2003-13

Source: usaspending.gov

A few ideas for

stories on contractors

Photo by flickr user notfrancois

Too Big to Ban http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/us/politics/18contractor.html?_r=0

The Fourth Branch http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/washington/04contract.html?pagewanted=all

Hedging their bets http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/world/middleeast/07sanctions.html?pagewanted=all

Not So Small Biz http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E1DB1330F935A35754C0A9609C8B63

Hitting the Lottery http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/business/07lotto.html?ref=jackpot

Poll Question #2 How many companies hold contracts for state lotteries?

Following the Rules http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/business/27sba.html?pagewanted

Resources for covering government contractors

Poll Question #3 Which of these resources have you explored or used in your

reporting?

All The Government Contractors http://www.usaspending.gov/

Your Turn Search for "Lockheed Martin" at

usaspending.gov

The Contractor’s Data Contractor https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng_cms/

Poll Question #4 What government agency spends billions on contracting, but its contracts aren’t in

the contracts spending data? Hint: It’s not the CIA.

FedBizOpps https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&tab=search

Getting High/Low Grades? http://www.fapiis.gov/fapiis/index.jsp

Contractors Behaving Badly? http://www.contractormisconduct.org/

The Federal Register https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/06/21/2013-14610/federal-acquisition-regulation-

contractors-performing-private-security-functions-outside-the-united

FAR cases http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/opencases/farcasenum/far.pdf

Protesting Contracts http://www.gao.gov/legal/bids/bidprotest.html

SBA Size Protest http://www.sba.gov/content/size-protests-size-determinations-and-appeals

The Watchdogs http://www.gsaig.gov/?utm_source=OCM&utm_medium=print-

radio&utm_term=HP_09_Essnt_inspector&utm_campaign=shortcuts

Say It Again, SAM! https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/?portal:componentId=1f834b82-3fed-4eb3-a1f8-

ea1f226a7955&portal:type=action&interactionstate=JBPNS_rO0ABXc0ABBfanNmQnJpZGdlVmlld0lkAAAAAQATL2pzZi9uYXZpZ2F0aW9uLmpzcAAHX19FT0ZfXw**

From Government Employee to Contractors

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08485.pdf

From Employee to Contractors, continued

http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/fyi_pge.pdf

Government vs. Private http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40641.pdf

The Rulemakers http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/procurement_far_council

The Regulators http://docketwrench.sunlightfoundation.com/

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