IBM and the U.S. government are back in business.
The company announced Friday that a temporary suspension order, which had banned IBM from participating in new federal government contracts, has been lifted.
But while the ban, which lasted nine days, has been removed, Big Blue is still busy cooperating with the Environmental Protection Agency with the investigation that had triggered the broad suspension. The environmental agency is examining possible violations of its procurement process over IBM's bid for EPA business.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia is also investigating the issue.
For Big Blue, removing the ban will bring a few more bucks its way. Last year, IBM generated nearly $1.43 billion from federal government contracts. That represented a 1.4 percent slice of its overall revenues of $98.8 billion last year.
Shares of IBM were down a hair in early morning trading to $115.80, down 19 cents.
In response to concerns raised by the Bush administration and other politicians, the revised bill attempts to exclude the "casual blogger" from reaping those benefits by stipulating the protections apply only to those who derive "financial gain or livelihood" from the journalistic activity, Boucher said Wednesday. That broad rule could, however, include part-time writers who receive even a trickle of revenue from Google Ads or Blogads.com.
While the revised form of the law is not perfect, it does appear to offer a level of protection against Justice Department inquiries that doesn't currently exist. Although 33 states have some form of shield law, these protections do not apply in a federal context and several U.S. journalists have found themselves imprisoned in recent years as a result.
... Read more
- prev
- 1
- next
