National-Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law sent a letter on behalf of four voting and democracy organizations in Arizona asking the federal government’s Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee to consider Cyber Ninjas and its CEO Doug Logan for debarment – meaning the company and Logan would be prohibited from receiving future federal contracts.
Cyber Ninjas ran the sham election review in Arizona in 2021, fueled by conspiracy theorists’ attempts to sow distrust and sabotage our elections. The company has previously been awarded multiple contracts from the federal government, including several with the Federal Communications Commission.
The government may ban entities from federal contracts for up to three years if, in the words of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the entities “indicat[e] a lack of business integrity or business honesty that seriously and directly affects the present responsibility of a Government contractor or subcontractor.” The letter describes multiple ways that Cyber Ninjas has shown such a lack of integrity and honesty or has otherwise failed to meet standards of satisfactory performance, including but not limited to:
- Refusing to abide by a court order to produce public records, for which an Arizona court fined Cyber Ninjas $50,000 a day until it complies (Cyber Ninjas’ appeal is pending before the Arizona Supreme Court after having been rejected by the Arizona Court of Appeals)
- Engaging in sloppy security practices, which led Maricopa County, Arizona, to announce it would replace all voting equipment it had turned over to Cyber Ninjas
The Brennan Center is submitting the letter to the committee on behalf of All Voting Is Local Arizona, the Arizona Democracy Resource Center, Living United for Change Arizona (LUCHA), and Mi Familia Vota. For more on today’s letter, please see “Advocates Want Cyber Ninjas, Which Led Ariz. Ballot Review, Barred from Federal Work” in the Washington Post and “Cyber Ninjas and Its CEO Should Be Banned from Government Contracts” on the Brennan Center’s website.
