Federal contracting · answer
Can a debarred company still get a federal contract?
No — federal agencies are barred from awarding to an excluded party under FAR 9.405. It still happens on the record: on Fonteum's ingested set, 112 prime awards worth $1,601,819 were signed during an active exclusion window for 21 confirmed recipients.
The facts
In principle, no. Once an entity is debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded, FAR 9.405 directs contracting officers not to solicit offers from, award to, or renew contracts with that party during the exclusion period, absent a written agency-head determination of compelling reason.
On the record, the two facts do co-occur. Fonteum's Leakage Report joins federal prime awards to SAM.gov exclusions on a confirmed Unique Entity ID (UEI) or CAGE key. On the currently ingested set, 112 distinct prime awards totalling $1,601,819 were signed while the same confirmed recipient held an active exclusion — 115 award-by-exclusion findings across 21 entities.
A co-occurrence of dated facts is not a determination of wrongdoing. Some awards signed during an exclusion window are entirely lawful — a pre-existing obligation, an option exercised on a prior contract, or a specific agency waiver. Each case carries a link back to SAM.gov, and should be checked at the source before any conclusion is drawn about a particular party.
Source: SAM.gov exclusions list (U.S. General Services Administration), the federal system of record. Confirm current status at SAM.gov →
Source: USASpending.gov prime award records (DATA Act, public domain), pulled 2026-06-17.
Statutory basis
Agencies shall not solicit offers from, award to, or extend contracts with an excluded party during the exclusion period, unless the agency head determines a compelling reason in writing.
Go to the source
Related questions
Is an award signed during an exclusion automatically illegal?
No. It is a co-occurrence of two dated facts — the award's signed date and the exclusion's active window. Some are lawful (pre-existing obligations or a documented compelling-reason determination). Fonteum makes no finding of wrongdoing and assigns no score; confirm each case at SAM.gov.
How does Fonteum match an award to an exclusion?
Only on a confirmed exact key — the recipient's UEI, or its CAGE for CAGE-keyed exclusion rows. Name-only matches are held and never asserted. An exclusion with no published activation date is treated as indeterminate and never reported as active.