Why is BP banned from getting federal contracts?

The British oil company, whose Deepwater Horizon well caused the 2010 spill that devastated the Gulf of Mexico, was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency from getting any new contracts with the federal government. That’s standard practice for any contractor found guilty of a crime. It applies to BP because the company agreed to plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the oil spill and pay $4.5 billion in fines.