Agility Lands on US Blacklist
https://www.epls.gov/epls/search.do?debar_recid=167565&status=current&vindex=0&xref=true

Agility recently agreed to pay the U.S. government $600 million for overcharging the military on supply contracts in the Middle East. Now USA has blacklisted the company altogether.

     The U.S. government has imposed an indefinite ban on Kuwait-based Agility, its Defense and Government Service Division (DFS), and a large number of the logistic provider’s subsidiaries worldwide.
     The black list includes prominent firms like The Public Warehouse Company (PWC), GeoLogistics Americas Inc., LEP Int’l Pty Ltd., Ostram Holdings Ltd., Sea Bridge Container Lines, Natural Freight Ltd. or Tristar Transport, just to name a few.
     All together 120 companies are named in the Washington-published ‘Excluded Parties List System’ (EPLS), nearly fifty of them local entities of Agility like Agility France, Agility Germany or Agility Dubai.
     The other seventy are daughter companies that fulfill special services as exemplified by 1991-founded Taos Industries of Madison, Alabama that provides tailored projects mainly for the military ranging from base operations, transportation, warehousing, and material management.
     “At Camp Arifjan (Middle East), Agility related company Taos is losing a $5 million contract,” ACNFT was told in an e-mail sent by a person close to the case.
     Why these 120 Agility entities or satellites of the Arabian logistics player are excluded from tenders by Washington for an indefinite time are not given in the EPLS filing.
     They are obvious, however.
     Three weeks ago, Agility agreed to pay the U.S. government $600 million to settle a fraud case, a result of overcharging the military on supply contracts in the Middle East, including food, mail and supply for the armed forces as well as civil servants based in Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait.
     Only days later, however, Washington came up with a new indictment accusing Agility and its subsidiaries for overcharging the U.S. Army on a number of multibillion dollars worth of contracts for transporting, storing and delivering food and beverages to American soldiers based in the Middle East.
     Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq 2003, the Public Warehouse Company, GeoLogistics and some more firms that later merged and were bundled in 2006 under the Agility brand became the biggest logistics provider for the U.S. government in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and some other hot spots of international conflicts.
     Washington apparently was intrigued by the ‘ethics’ and ‘values’ Agility proudly proclaims and displays on its website homepage.
     “Agility believes strongly in conducting business with integrity.
     “Building trust with customers and suppliers by doing what is right: keeping our promises, being a good citizen, complying with regulations and laws, and honoring rules of engagement,” the Agility website concludes.
     At Agility’s Hamburg, Germany headquarters nobody wanted to comment on the black listing or on what consequences it might have for the logistics provider’s global business.
     Approached by ACNFT, Agility Europe spokesperson Marina Targa stated: “PWC continues its discussions with the U.S. government with a view to resolving the current legal cases; however there is no guarantee that the parties can reach a mutually agreeable settlement.“

Click on link below to view ‘Excluded Parties List System’

https://www.epls.gov/epls/search.do?debar_recid=167565&status=current&vindex=0&xref=true