WASHINGTON-The General Services Administration Wednesday removed MCI/WorldCom from the exclusion list, allowing the company, which is emerging from bankruptcy after an accounting scandal, to again compete and be awarded government contracts.
“Over the past months, MCI and its employees have taken extensive steps to ensure the company operates with the utmost integrity. We have worked diligently to fulfill all of the ethics and internal controls criteria necessary to being a good federal government contractor,” said Michael Capellas, MCI chairman and chief executive officer. “Today’s GSA decision is a sign of confidence in the new MCI. Our employees are grateful to be eligible for new government business and contract extensions again.”
WorldCom Inc. plans to become MCI Inc. when it emerges from bankruptcy.
The GSA announced the proposed debarment July 31.
“It is important that all companies and individuals doing business with the federal government be ethical and responsible, said GSA Administrator Stephen Perry, noting that the GSA Inspector General June 2 had recommended the debarment after determining that WorldCom lacked the necessary internal controls and business ethics.
While MCI was taken off the Excluded Parties Listing System, it was essentially placed on a three-year probation that could see it debarred if it does not keep to an administrative agreement that includes significant reporting requirements.
“The administrative agreement detailing the reporting requirements runs for a term of three years and requires WorldCom to report to GSA regularly during this period and to report any changes in senior personnel, violations of ethics standards or other divergences from the company’s action plans. Today’s decision allows WorldCom to again compete for government contracts, but violations of the agreement’s provisions would constitute a cause for WorldCom’s debarment,” said the GSA in a statement.
Not everyone was happy with the GSA’s actions.
“As someone who witnessed first hand the deception and corruption at WorldCom, I am appalled that the U.S. government has blundered into this premature and unjustified decision to let MCI off the debarment hook. It is also suspect that the government should reinstate WorldCom just as its largest government telecom contract-the GSA Federal Technology Service 2001-is set to expire on Saturday,” said Mitch Marcus, a former WorldCom account manager turned whistleblower, who resigned before the company acknowledged its $11 billion accounting errors. “I see no proof anywhere that the same corporate culture that ruled at the anything-goes WorldCom has been rooted out as the result of a handful of token window-dressing changes at MCI.”
MCI/WorldCom runs the SkyTel two-way paging network and a military/government cellular service in Iraq.
