No More Fed Contracts For Big Blue

By Cernig

The Homeland Security Department’s Office of Procurement Operations has barred IBM from receiving any new government contracts or new orders under existing contracts, effective 28th March. The order to stop dealing with IBM appears to be connected to EPA complaints that IBM improperly obtained information about a contract it was bidding on from EPA employees.

IBM's main federal customers in the past have been the Homeland Security Department, Army, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Defense Information Systems Agency. Those and other contracts were worth a total of $1.4 billion last year.

Which is great. Corrupt companies shouldn't be given a free pass to skim even more taxpayer's money.

Now...how come IBM gets a ban but Boeing didn't?

Could it be that in the 2006 and 2008 cycles IBM gave by an almsot three to one margin to Democratic campaigns whereas Boeing has always favored the Republicans (until this year, at least)?

Nah....

It must be that there aren't other huge aerospace companies just like Boeing that could have taken up the slack. Otherwise we'd have to go looking for ulterior motives in such un-evenhanded treatment.

(H/T BoingBoing)