Reed Smith attended last Friday’s General Services Administration’s (GSA) public meeting on the proposed Transactional Data Reporting rule. GSA’s proposed rule would eliminate the Price Reduction Clause (PRC) in favor of transactional data reporting. We previously blogged about the parameters of the proposed rule here. GSA held this meeting in the hopes of opening dialogue … Continue Reading
On March 31, 2015, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (“ISDC”) released its report to Congress detailing federal suspensions and debarment actions for fiscal year 2014. From 2013 to 2014, federal agencies in aggregate increased their use of exclusion actions. The number of persons and entities proposed for debarments jumped from 2,229 to 2,241, and … Continue Reading
On April 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settled its first enforcement action against a company for violating whistleblower protections by including restrictive language in confidentiality agreements used in its internal investigations. The SEC charged a Houston-based government services contractor with violating whistleblower protections codified in section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act. Rule … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) intends to award up to 12 indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts, including two awarded to small businesses, with a total contract ceiling of $55 billion. The DOE released Request for Proposals (RFP) on March 23, 2015 for the implementation of energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) at any U.S. … Continue Reading
Government contracting is not for the faint of heart when it comes to compliance woes. Private companies looking to do business with the government face a regulatory maze so great that it may inspire references to Greek mythology, labyrinth and all. Few contract clauses reflect this sentiment of compliance pitfalls better than the General Services … Continue Reading
On Tuesday, March 10, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a decision by the Court of Federal Claims, which permitted the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) to include contract clauses that deviated from federal government commercial contracting rules. By doing so, the Court of Federal Claims held … Continue Reading
Spring forward with a rundown of last week’s top developments related to government contracts. 1. Proposed Rule to Change Price-Reduction Clause The General Service Administration (GSA) proposed a new rule to change the basis of award monitoring requirement of the existing price-reductions clause, resulting in a burden reduction for participating FSS contractors. 2. OFPP Takes … Continue Reading
In case you spent last week (this morning) dealing with winter weather instead of reading the latest and greatest in the realm on federal contracting, here is a rundown of last week’s top developments related to government contracts, to get you back on track and ready for Monday. 1. Senate Passes “Clean” Spending Bill To … Continue Reading
Starting the first week of March , federal contractors will be subject to new prohibitions and obligations related to human trafficking. These new requirements stem from a final rule issued January 29, 2015, that significantly strengthens the Federal Acquisition Regulation’s (FAR) existing provisions to prevent trafficking in persons. The new rule goes into effect March 2, … Continue Reading
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (“OFPP”) is now under new leadership. Confirmed by the Senate in September, Anne Rung will take on the job of managing the federal government’s acquisition policy. Prior to her most recent appointment, Rung held the position of General Services Administration chief acquisition officer and associate administrator of governmentwide policy. … Continue Reading
FY 15 Omnibus spending legislation sent to the President for signature. This past weekend, the Senate finished work on an omnibus spending bill, Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (“Act”), which funds most of the federal government for the remainder of FY 15. The House of Representatives passed this legislation last week and it … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) published a final rule today, implementing Executive Order (“EO”) 13672, signed by President Obama July 21, 2014. Before EO 13762, federal contractors were only prohibited from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. EO 13762 now … Continue Reading
Back in May, a final rule issued by the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) imposed new disclosure requirements on federal contractors. Contractors will now be required to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by another business entity during their System for Award Management (SAM) … Continue Reading
On October 7, 2014, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its Final Rule, 79 Fed. Reg. 60633, implementing Executive Order (EO) 13658’s new minimum wage requirements for government contractors and subcontractors. While addressing the nation in the January 2014 State of the Union Address, President Obama stated his intention to issue an EO that would … Continue Reading
While the current Ebola outbreak is a natural epidemic, the idea that the virus could be used as a bioterrorist threat has been considered. Accordingly, the potential for obtaining Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 (SAFETY Act) protection for products or services related to fighting the Ebola … Continue Reading
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the worst medical outbreak of the disease in recorded history. Currently, there are no treatments or vaccines proven to be safe or effective for the Ebola virus, and investigational vaccines and treatments are only in the early stages of development. As such, the primary approach to containing the … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (“VETS”) recently issued a final rule altering the reporting requirements on veteran employment and hiring for federal contractors. The new rule revises the regulations implementing the reporting requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (“VEVRAA”). Although the rule becomes effective October … Continue Reading
On July 25, 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”), General Services Administration (“GSA”), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) adopted a Final Rule addressing the allowability of legal costs incurred by a contractor or subcontractor defending against a whistleblowing employee’s accusation of reprisal. The Final Rule implements a provision of the 2013 National … Continue Reading
Back in 2013, we reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) is not required to give veteran-owned small businesses (“VOSBs”) or service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (“SDVOSBs”) preference for all contracts. In Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States (“Kingdomware”), the United States Court of Federal Claims accepted the VA practice of purchasing off the Federal … Continue Reading
On June 17, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor issued proposed regulations to implement Executive Order 13658, which increased the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour beginning in 2015. The proposed regulations cover a fairly broad cross-section of service and construction contracts and contract-like instruments, and their requirements are to be flowed down to … Continue Reading
A month after the U.S. Department of Defense issued a final rule (“DoD rule”) that impacted the defense supply chain by requiring certain contractors to detect and report counterfeit electronic parts (discussed here), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) Council published a new proposed rule to greatly expand counterfeit reporting obligations. The proposed rule sets forth … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”) recently issued a final rule that will significantly impact the defense supply chain. The new rule, effective May 6, 2014, implements the provision in Section 818 of the fiscal year (FY) 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) related to the use of counterfeit electronic parts in DOD products. Specifically, … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court decided last week in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission that aggregate donation limits, which capped the total on how much someone can contribute to candidates and political parties, per election, violated the free speech protections of the First Amendment, 572 U.S. ____(2014). If this sounds familiar, it should: the Court used similar reasoning … Continue Reading
On March 24, 2014, the Department of Labor’s revised Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (“VEVRAA”) regulations take effect. Among various changes to the existing rules found at 41 C.F.R. Part 60-300, including establishing veteran hiring benchmarks, posting open jobs, and collecting quantitative recruiting data, federal government contractors with covered prime contracts will … Continue Reading
