MCI gets OK to bid on government contracts

Bankrupt MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, this week announced it has been cleared by the General Services Agency to again bid on government contracts. Last July, the GSA cited 10 areas of weakness in MCI while effectively banning the company from bidding on government contracts or receiving extensions of existing government contracts. MCI implemented the necessary corrections in the areas of weakness, according to a GSA news release.

MCI Chairman and CEO Michael Cappellas said MCI hired a chief ethics officer, conducted ethics training for all employees and enhanced its accounting controls and corporate ethics program. "We have worked diligently to fulfill all of the ethics and internal-controls criteria necessary to being a good federal-government contractor," Cappellas said in a written statement. "Today’s GSA decision is a sign of confidence in the new MCI."

Although debarment proceedings against MCI by the GSA have been terminated, the carrier will be subject to additional reporting standards for the next three years, which amounts to a probationary period.

The GSA’s decision came days before an MCI government contract worth about $300 million annually is scheduled for renewal, according to various news reports. This circumstance makes the timing of the announcement "suspect," said Mitch Marcus, a WorldCom whistleblower and founder of BoycottMCI.com.

"I am appalled that the United States government has blundered into this premature and unjustified decision to let MCI off the debarment hook," Marcus said in a prepared statement. "The reality is that business and consumers are walking away from WorldCom/MCI, and the United States government should be leading the way."