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Fonteum·Government Procurement EvidenceThe Leakage ReportQuestions

Federal contracting · answer

Which agencies awarded contracts to already-excluded contractors?

Of 112 prime awards signed during a recipient's active exclusion window on Fonteum's ingested set, the most came from the Department of Veterans Affairs (48), the Department of Defense (36), and the Department of Agriculture (21).

The facts

On the currently ingested set, 112 prime awards totalling $1,601,819 were signed while the same confirmed recipient held an active SAM.gov exclusion. Ranked by award count, the awarding agencies were led by the Department of Veterans Affairs (48 awards), the Department of Defense (36), and the Department of Agriculture (21).

"Awarding agency" here is the agency that signed the award — not the agency that imposed the exclusion. Exclusions are entered by suspension and debarment officials across government and consolidated into SAM.gov; an award by one agency to a party excluded on another agency's action is exactly the kind of cross-system gap this study surfaces.

The full agency, exclusion-type, and award-year breakdowns — each reproducible from the published SQL — are in the Leakage Report. Coverage is bounded to the awards and exclusions currently ingested, not the full federal corpus, so these counts are a floor that grows as more of the confirmed-excluded recipient set is backfilled. Every figure is stated as two dated facts and links back to SAM.gov for confirmation.

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

FAR 9.404 — System for Award Management Exclusions

Exclusion records from suspension and debarment officials government-wide are consolidated in SAM.gov, which contracting officers across every agency are directed to check before award.

Go to the source

  • The Leakage Report — agency breakdown →
  • USASpending.gov →official source

Related questions

  • Can a debarred company still get a federal contract? →
  • What is the difference between suspension and debarment? →
  • How many federal contractors are currently excluded? →

More on this

Does the awarding agency also impose the exclusion?

Not necessarily. Suspension and debarment officials across government enter exclusions into SAM.gov; any agency's contracting officers are then directed to check that single list before award. An award and the exclusion it overlaps can come from two different agencies.

Reviewed by the Fonteum Government Contracts Desk. Federal procurement records analysts. This study reports exact regulatory facts — an award's signed date and an exclusion's active window, each sourced to SAM.gov and USASpending.gov. It makes no determination of wrongdoing and assigns no score.
Figures reflect the committed Leakage snapshot. Published 2026-06-20 · All federal contracting questions · Fonteum.

Fonteum is a public-records evidence platform. This Government Procurement Evidence silo reports exact regulatory facts from federal public records (SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, FAPIIS). It assigns no risk score and makes no determination of wrongdoing; confirm current status at the official source.

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