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Ron Nixon presents "Investigating Government Contractors" during the Fall 2013 Society of American Business Editors and Writers Conference in New York, Oct. 4, 2013. Nixon is a domestic correspondent in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times. For more information on training for business journalists, please visit http://businessjournalism.org.
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Investigating Government Contractors
Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
SABEW Fall Conference New York, Oct. 4, 2013
Ron Nixon • Washington correspondent for The
New York Times • Has inves9gated:
o contractors during Hurricane Katrina, o problems with contracts at the Small
Business Administra9on, o contractors who are too big to ban despite
criminal and civil charges and o contractors who were doing business
simultaneously with the U.S. and Iran.
What You Will Learn • Why covering government contractors is important and
affects all beats. • How contractors are cri9cal to the func9oning of
government. • How contrac9ng works. • How to track government spending on contrac9ng. • How to inves9ga9ve fraud, waste and abuse in contrac9ng.
Why Investigate Contractors?
● Governments spends billions each year on contractors.
● Contractors are taking on larger roles as government shrinks.
● They perform duties from buying guns and planes to analyzing intelligence (Edward Snowden) to delivering food and answering FOIA requests. Photo by abcnews.com
Why Investigate Contractors? ● There have been a number of instances of waste,
fraud and abuse involving contractors. ● Contractors play a role in legislative and
regulatory policy.
Pho
to b
y U
.S. A
rmy
C
orps
of E
ngin
eers
Spending on Contractors 2003-13
Source: usaspending.gov
A few ideas for
stories on contractors
Photo by flickr user notfrancois
Too Big to Ban
The Fourth Branch
Hedging their bets
Not So Small Biz
Hitting the Lottery
Following the Rules
Resources for covering government contractors
All The Government Contractors
Your Turn Search for "Lockheed Martin" at
usaspending.gov
The Contractor’s Data Contractor
FedBizOps
Getting High/Low Grades?
Contractors Behaving Badly?
The Federal Register
FAR cases
Protesting Contracts
SBA Size Protest
The Watchdogs
Say It Again, SAM!
From Government Employee to Contractors
From Employee to Contractors, continued
Government vs. Private
The Rulemakers
The Regulators
Questions? Ron Nixon The New York Times Washington bureau [email protected] @nixonron
