US Govt Considering Suspending Business With Sprint

And we thought they only did it to us ....


WASHINGTON (AP)--The government is considering suspending business with Sprint Corp. (FON)
because the telecommunications company overcharged the Justice Department more than $2 million.

The General Services Administration informed Sprint in the last week that the agency's inspector
general urged GSA officials to consider barring the company from new contracts, Sprint spokesman
James Fisher said Tuesday. Sprint's government contracts are worth more than $600 million each
year.

GSA spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson declined to comment.

Suspending Sprint would remove a second major telecommunications contractor from federal
business. The General Services Administration last week barred MCI (MCWEQ), formerly known as
WorldCom, from new federal contracts.

Sprint agreed in June to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations it knowingly defrauded the
government by overcharging the Justice Department for telecommunications services between 2000
and 2002.

The company said there was no intent to defraud. It blamed a billing error that caused Sprint to
charge the agency at a market rate instead of the lower rate called for in the contract.

Fisher said the company stopped the incorrect billing immediately after the government alerted
the company to the problem last spring. He said the matter was settled and further GSA action is
"without any merit."

A GSA suspension, which doesn't affect existing government contracts, usually lasts less than a
year. During the suspension, GSA decides whether to impose a more serious penalty called
debarment, which could exclude the company from government business for a period typically not
longer than three years.

Last week, GSA suspended new contracts with MCI, saying the company "lacks the necessary
internal controls and business ethics."

After WorldCom was driven into bankruptcy by an $11 billion accounting scandal, it proposed
adopting the name of its MCI long-distance division in a bid to clean up its image. A bankruptcy
court is considering efforts by the company to emerge from Chapter 11 protection.

MCI's government contracts are valued at about $1 billion each year.

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starwars <[email protected]> wrote:
> And we thought they only did it to us ....
>
>
> WASHINGTON (AP)--The government is considering suspending business with
> Sprint Corp. (FON)
> because the telecommunications company overcharged the Justice Department
> more than $2 million.

First MCI, now Sprint. Heh. Note that FON is the ticker symbol for the
parent company, not SPCS.

--
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Steve Sobol, Proprietor
888.480.4NET (4638) * 248.724.4NET * [email protected]

...and we thought they were just screwing us!

Mark

--
Posted at SprintUsers.com - Your place for everything Sprint PCS
Free wireless access @ www.SprintUsers.com/wap

mkoso wrote:
> *...and we thought they were just screwing us!
>
> Mark *

Gee...of all people or things to screw over...the United States Justice
Department...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............why does that not sound like
a good idea?

--
Posted at SprintUsers.com - Your place for everything Sprint PCS
Free wireless access @ www.SprintUsers.com/wap

hahahaha, good one Highline
"Highline" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> mkoso wrote:
> > *...and we thought they were just screwing us!
> >
> > Mark *
>
> Gee...of all people or things to screw over...the United States Justice
> Department...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............why does that not sound like
> a good idea?
>
> --
> Posted at SprintUsers.com - Your place for everything Sprint PCS
> Free wireless access @ www.SprintUsers.com/wap
>