As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, many of us are on the lookout for four-leaf clovers, a pot of gold, or perhaps even a mischievous leprechaun guarding his treasure. But in the world of government contracting, the real...more
Amid the chaos of the past few weeks—sweeping executive orders, relentless cost-cutting, and an air of uncertainty that lingers like smoke after a fire—federal contractors have been left reeling, straining to hear what comes...more
After years of anticipation, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council has announced the arrival of its proposed rule to enhance the safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in federal contracts (the...more
1/17/2025
/ Compliance ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Employee Training ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
NARA ,
NIST ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Management ,
Software ,
Subcontractors ,
Supply Chain ,
System For Award Management (SAM)
Contractors interested in offering federal agencies artificial intelligence (AI) can now glean insight into how agencies are expected to conduct AI acquisitions. On September 24, 2024, the Office of Management and Budget...more
10/30/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Executive Orders ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Governance Standards ,
Guidance Update ,
Information Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
OMB ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Transparency
Over the course of the past few years, gallons of ink have been spilled addressing the seemingly ever-pending US Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program. After keeping us...more
Some might say there’s little difference between dealing with the devil and being a federal contractor. And for the unwary or unprepared, that may not be far off. Federal contracting comes with a litany of “fine print” that...more
9/5/2024
/ Chief Information Officers (CIO) ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DFARS ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Information Technology ,
Relators ,
Risk Management ,
Whistleblowers
On August 1, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division introduced its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program (Program), which, like a modern-day Western posse, aims to bring justice to the wild frontier...more
9/4/2024
/ Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Financial Crimes ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Internal Investigations ,
Risk Assessment ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
In Percipient.ai v. United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit may have triggered a legal “Big Bang” moment in government procurement law. The case centered on whether the Federal Acquisition Streamlining...more
On May 14, 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) dropped the third remix…er, revision…of its Special Publication (SP) 800-171, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems...more
What do you think is going to be scarier—artificial intelligence (AI) or the government’s effort to regulate AI? On October 30, 2023, the White House issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14410, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy...more
On December 26, 2023, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) belatedly gifted defense contractors and subcontractors a Proposed Rule on the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) Program. DoD also released eight CMMC...more
2/14/2024
/ Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Defense Contracts ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
NIST ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Subcontractors
On October 25, 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a Proposed Rule amending the Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and permanently authorizing the DoD Mentor-Protégé Program...more
Parties litigating False Claims Act (FCA) cases have long struggled with a thorny question around the essential element of scienter (the defendant’s intent, or state of mind): What/how much does a contractor need to know when...more
6/9/2023
/ Contractors ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Invoices ,
Medicare ,
Personal Knowledge ,
Pharmacies ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Reasonable Interpretations ,
Scienter ,
SCOTUS ,
US ex rel Tracy Schutte et al v SuperValu Inc et al
Hollywood is full of them. And unless you are trapped on the Planet of the Apes, caught on the 3:10 to Yuma, or running from Godzilla, you’ve probably seen a movie reboot or two over the past two decades. The term generally...more
Scenario 1: A pharmacy chain hires a value consultant to review its Medicare and Medicaid billing practices for ways to optimize the coding of drug reimbursements to maximize profits. Drugs that had historically been charged...more
2/3/2023
/ Billing ,
CFOs ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Reasonableness Factors ,
Reimbursements ,
SCOTUS
According to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), since 2019, Will Evans, a reporter for the Center for Investigative Reporting, has sought the Employment Information Report (EEO-1) data of federal...more
For just shy of a decade, the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) has had to operate under rules dictating the safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Information, along with a strict 72-hour notification requirement if/when/should...more
Regardless of whether they were eagerly anticipated or begrudgingly unavoidable, the changes promised to the Buy American Act (BAA) early last year have at last arrived, or at least are quickly approaching. On March 4, 2022,...more
With Spring Training just a few weeks away it looks like the Biden Administration is stepping up to the plate to ensure the plans in its $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act can avoid strikes. On February 4,...more
After months of review, on November 4, 2021, the Department of Defense (DoD) finally unveiled its new version of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC 2.0). Well, almost. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment,...more
Four memoranda, released in the last several business days, provide federal contracting officers guidance and suggested clauses to implement President Biden’s Executive Order 14042 (the Executive Order) in federal contracts...more
10/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Joe Biden ,
OMB ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations
As COVID-19 antibodies begin flooding the immune systems of most Americans, it is important to remember the important role that hygiene has played over the past fifteen months. For many, the risks and dangers of the pandemic...more
6/16/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Business Associates Agreement (BAA) ,
Buy American Act ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Information Technology ,
Joe Biden ,
Masks ,
Sanitation ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Agreements Act ,
Trading Advisory Agreements (TAAs) ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Akin to the exasperations of the newly minted “homeschool teachers” the pandemic has created, the Biden administration’s recent Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (Order) is a mix of sound logic and utter...more
5/18/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
FBI ,
Infrastructure ,
National Security ,
Popular
As has been widely reported, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning of mass protests and potential violence accompanying the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. However, unlike...more
Like the hits produced by DJ Khaled, the FAR Council offers “another one.” As covered extensively in this blog, federal contractors have been—or should have been (you have been working toward compliance, haven’t...more