I am currently between contracts. One of the companies that I have interviewed with is rumored to be being investigated by the Feds. (They are federal contractors.)
Is there anyway I can find out if that is true? Obviously this would influence me, if I were offered a contract.
It depends what sort of investigation you’re talking about.
A good point.
I’m afraid I did not ask, but I inferred that they are being investigated for improprieties involving their contracting dealings with the government - since their contracts were what was being discussed at the time.
Probably not, then. GAO investigations, at least, are not published until they’re complete. For what it’s worth, most federal contractor investigations are related to failure to comply with wage/hour laws, and the like.
Thanks. Perhaps I should check my source and ask him for details. It was a throw-away comment in a lunch discussion and he was likely reporting rumors. The discussion went like this:
Me: I just interviewed XYZ
Him: Yeah, they are one of the companies currently under investigation by the feds.
Me: Weird, they kind of had a “used car salesman” vibe, I didn’t really care for them.
Him: Yeah, they’re known as shady.
And then we moved on to other topics.
You could check the company’s SEC filings to see if it has reported being aware of a federal investigation.
“The Feds” covers a lot of ground.
Under the heading of, “This is probably not exactly what you’re asking, but this might help you figure out what to ask…” If a food or drug manufacturer is under FDA investigation, you can look up the company on the FDA’s website. You’ll see the letter the FDA sent, alerting the company to the problem. Note: you only see the FDA’s letter, you can’t see the response from the company to the FDA. You’ll only know if the company doesn’t fix the problem by further FDA letters. But I don’t think every other Federal agency does the same level of public reporting.
Is there any way to see if some agency has made a request or subpoena for records? Other than deep criminal investigations, I assume a lot of this sort of activity is not secret or hidden, other than the bad PR aspect. “The Feds” regularly make announcements like “X is being nvestigated for anti-trust violations”.
What does Google say? If this were “public knowledge”, I assume it would also be written up by some business analysts.
Right. Go to Edgar http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html and read their last few filings. I recommend doing this fro any company you consider working with.
I always just google the company name + investigation as well.
But in general, most large Fed Contractors are being “investigated” at any given time for something. Small business reporting requirements, DCAA rates, CPSR audits, there are so many agencies watching us all the time. The fact of an investigation really means very little. If it’s the GAO however, that’s something else altogether.
Thanks, that is good advice. Most of the companies I work with are known entities - I get a lot of repeat work. But it is still good advice!
Can’t speak to federal regulators like the SEC, but this isn’t the case in criminal matters. The first public disclosure comes when there is an indictment.
Federal search warrants are accessible through PACER, although they are often sealed during an ongoing investigation. As a policy, the FBI won’t comment on any active investigation (including whether or not one exists), and I suspect the policy is the same for other federal agencies.
–Sean
You didn’t mention whether this is a public or privately owned company, and if this is a DoD/DoE contractor, or some other type of Government contract and why they are known as ‘shady’. A few more details would help.
In DoD contracting, these rumors swirl all the time, and are rarely true, or the ‘investigation’ is over some nothing issue related to incorrect billing. Indeed, at my previous company, an audit was performed on our billing by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). They actually found that the Government owed us money to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars rather than the other way around. But we were, none-the-less, “investigated by the Feds”. The other factor to consider is that any ex-employee (or friend of an ex-employee who has only heard their side of the story) will often be laced with some of this. I’d ask more details from the person and see if you can corroborate any of it as being more than the ramblings of a disgruntled employee, or someone who lost a bid to them before you assume they are crooked.