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Gray Panthers: GSA MCI/Worldcom Action is Welcome, But Should Have Come Much Sooner
Gray Panthers: GSA MCI/Worldcom Action is Welcome, But Should Have Come Much Sooner
Published 08-05-03
Submitted by Gray Panthers
"The General Services Administration (GSA) finally did today what it should have done several months ago -- found that MCI/WorldCom 'lacks the necessary internal controls and business ethics' to do business with the U.S. government. If the GSA had acted earlier, it could have kept this corporate criminal from being the telecommunications provider for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. military, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well serving as the wireless provider for Baghdad.
By waiting to reach the conclusion that it was urged by many parties to arrive at in the spring, the GSA allowed MCI to cement its position as the largest telecommunications provider to the U.S. government. We now have the unfortunate situation where a company that is labeled as unfit to do business with the U.S. government is being propped up and kept alive by taxpayers at the rate of millions of dollars per month.
We call on the General Accounting Office (GAO), which is investigating GSA's original decision, to look into how this travesty came about. Yes, the GSA did the right thing, but it finally acted after tens of millions of dollars in contracts were awarded. By the time the tardy GSA acted, the MCI horse was not only out of the barn, it was already in the next county."
THE GRAY PANTHERS
The Gray Panthers is an inter-generational advocacy organization with over 40,000 activists working together for social and economic justice. Gray Panthers' issues include universal health care, jobs with a living wage and the right to organize, preservation of Social Security, affordable housing, access to quality education, economic justice, environment, peace, and challenging ageism, sexism, and racism.
