Yesterday President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 which includes a provision to establish a government-wide database with information on the integrity and performance of federal contractors and grantees. But get this! The government’s version will not be made available to the public. This is an outrage.

So thank heavens for POGO, The Project on Government Oversight, which has just released an updated and expanded version of their Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD), which includes information on the misconduct history of the top 100 federal contractors.  POGO will continue to maintain their database as a free public resource with updated information on the misconduct of the top federal contractors. Here’s a link to a helpful fact sheet regarding myths about the federal database.

POGO has made several format changes and added new search and sort functions that will make the database easier to use. They built the FCMD as a way to help separate responsible contractors from shady and corrupt ones. Here’s a link to POGO’s press release announcing the updated database.

POGO’s site goes back to 1995, and currently lists over 750 instances of contractor misconduct, such as fraud and violations of environmental, securities, and labor laws. Topping the list is Lockheed Martin, with 47 instances of misconduct.

And here’s the ultimate irony.  The Fed’s database will be modeled after POGO’s FCMD.