Government considers dumping Sprint because of overcharge

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is considering suspending business with Sprint because the telecommunications company overcharged the Justice Department more than $2 million.
The General Services Administration informed Sprint that the agency's inspector general had proposed barring the company from new contracts. Sprint's government contracts are worth more than $600 million each year.
GSA spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson declined to comment.
Suspending Sprint would remove a second major telecommunications contractor from federal business. GSA last week barred MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, from new federal contracts.
Sprint agreed in June to pay $5.5 million to settle allegations it knowingly defrauded the government by overcharging the Justice Department for telecommunications services between 2000 and 2002.
The company said there was no intent to defraud.
It blamed a billing error that caused Sprint to charge the agency at a market rate instead of the lower rate called for in the contract.