Between April 9 and April 16, President Trump issued three executive orders (EOs) calling for reforms to the federal procurement system. The April 9 EO, “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense...more
On February 18, 2025, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued a Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) class deviation—CD-2025-041—to implement several Executive Orders (E.O.) relating to Diversity, Equity, and...more
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the Unleashing American Energy Executive Order (“Energy EO”) and the Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid Executive Order (“Foreign Aid EO”), both portend a...more
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” revoking EOs from previous administrations that promoted diversity, equity and...more
1/24/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Grants ,
OMB
In May, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued updated recommendations for security controls for controlled unclassified information (CUI) that is processed, stored or transmitted by nonfederal...more
On March 12, 2024, the Department of Defense (DoD) finalized a rule to open its Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity (CS) Program to all defense contractors who own or operate an unclassified information system that...more
Key Points - On January 31, 2024, the Department of Defense (DoD) released an update to its list of “Chinese military companies” that are “operating directly or indirectly in the United States” in accordance with the...more
2/7/2024
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Branch ,
Military Contracts ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
SDN List ,
Trade Restrictions
On December 4, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) issued a “special” Audit Report (the Report) that provides insight into common cybersecurity weaknesses related to the protection of Controlled...more
Key Takeaways -
To support the CHIPS Act of 2022, the USPTO initiated a pilot program that provides expedited examination of certain patent applications directed to manufacturing semiconductor devices, potentially reducing...more
Two years after the Department of Justice (DOJ) established its Civil-Cyber Fraud Initiative, there has been a recent uptick in enforcement and regulatory activity related to cybersecurity. September opened with the unsealing...more
11/3/2023
/ Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Settlement ,
Verizon ,
Whistleblowers
On August 14, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a pre-publication version of final guidance implementing the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA).The guidance adds a new Part 184 in 2 C.F.R. and...more
Key Points -
On July 28, 2023, President Biden signed EO 14104, “Federal Research and Development in Support of Domestic Manufacturing and United States Jobs,” which aims to increase domestic manufacturing and...more
8/18/2023
/ Bayh-Dole Act ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Funding ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Manufacturers ,
Ownership of Works ,
Patents ,
R&D ,
Research and Development ,
Waivers
On June 2, 2023, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council issued an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the No TikTok on Government...more
On June 23, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce released revisions to the original CHIPS Act Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to detail the application requirements for upstream suppliers seeking financial assistance...more
On February 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) released details on the application process for projects to construct, expand or modernize commercial facilities for the production of leading-edge,...more
Following President Biden’s State of the Union address highlighting increased enforcement of Buy America requirements for federally funded infrastructure projects and new standards for construction materials, the White House...more
On December 27, 2022, President Biden signed the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act (P.L. 117-324 or the “Act”). The law aims to tighten regulations on potential organization conflicts...more
On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed the James N. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA) into law. The statute prohibits federal agencies from purchasing covered semiconductor products...more
Key Points -
NIST is soliciting input from the public to inform the design and implementation of the CHIPS incentive programs and research and development investments in Manufacturing USA institutes. Comments are due to...more
On September 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Department”) released a 20-page document providing key details on the administration and application process for the award of $50 Billion through the Creating Helpful...more
On August 9, 2022, President Biden signed the CHIPS Act of 2022 (the “Act”), legislation to fund domestic semiconductor manufacturing and boost federal scientific research and development (see our previous alert for...more
In a bipartisan vote of 64-33, the Senate passed legislation earlier today to fund domestic semiconductor manufacturing and boost federal scientific research and development. The bill was supported by 17 Republicans and...more
On Friday, February 4, 2022, the House passed the America COMPETES Act on nearly a straight party line vote to, among many other priorities, fund domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing, dramatically increase scientific...more
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) previewing significant changes to its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.1 The...more
Key Points -
On October 6, 2021, the DOJ announced two new initiatives: the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative and the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.
The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative will fight rising cyber threats...more
10/13/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DFARS ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
NDAA ,
Popular ,
Supply Chain