Congress is placing substantial pressure on federal agencies to increase the list of actions that could result in the suspension or debarment of government contractors.  While no proposed legislation has yet made it into law, both House and Senate lawmakers have made it clear to the Department of Justice that they don’t believe suspension or debarment are being used “enough” to punish bad actors.  Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) sent a letter to the Department of Justice this summer urging the agency to take a more aggressive role in suspending or debarring contractors, including those that are the subject of civil False Claims Act (FCA) cases. More recently, another provision would subject contractors to suspension or debarment for failure to adhere to Federal Labor Standards Agreement (FLSA) requirements.  Historically, suspension and debarment decisions are not technically supposed to be about “punishment”, but rather based on the present responsibility of a company or person engaged in government business.  That foundation has largely kept suspension and debarment actions out of the bag of punishment tools the federal compliance community can use on contractors.  That foundation is under considerable attack right now, however, and contractors should most definitely be paying attention.  A recent article from the law firm Gibson Dunn states, “Companies subject to FCA investigations, litigation, and resolutions should be particularly mindful of how they approach mitigating the risk of suspension or debarment in the context of DOJ investigations and resolutions, in light of the Warren-Lujan letter.”  Increased exposure to suspension or debarment is just one more issue government contractors face right now that increase the costs of doing business with the government.  Now is a good time to step back and assess those costs and assess how your company should proceed in this environment.