The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked the General Services Administration to submit information on how GSA uses the System for Award Management database to identify contractors that are not eligible for contract awards due to federal tax debt.According to a Nov. 22 letter sent to GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth, the House panel requested GSA to submit by Dec. 6 documents related to the agency’s verification and publication of data associated with active exclusions in SAM and exclusions for contractors with federal tax debt in SAM.
Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) also want GSA to report on how frequent the agency updates exclusion status data within SAM and submit documents on how it identifies contractors that have active exclusions due to tax liens.
The lawmakers have also requested guidance and memoranda that GSA issued to contract officers to make sure that they do not award contracts to firms that do not comply with the federal tax law.
The House committee issued the letter after a report by an independent  media organization showed that GSA, Internal Revenue Service, National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies awarded $63.8 million in fiscal year 2016 contracts to companies with $112 million in tax liens.
