Welcome back to our second installment of OIG Shorts. In this post, we focus on the difference between Checking Boxes and Solving Problems from an Ethics & Compliance (E&C) perspective. We all know what attributes an E&C...more
In an “update” that reads more like a teaser to a B Movie, the OMB on Friday advised that it will have more guidance on EO 14042 for us soon. What precipitated this official warning that more guidance would be forthcoming?...more
With apologies to Jaws II, just when you thought it was safe, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has released a shark back into the EO 14042 waters.
On Friday, August 26, the 11th Circuit published a 66-page...more
9/13/2022
/ Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Likelihood of Success ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
State and Local Government ,
Vaccinations
Federal contractors and subcontractors across the country were forced to rethink their COVID-safety efforts when, on December 7, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia enjoined enforcement of Executive...more
12/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Masks ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
Stays ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On September 9, 2021, the President issued Executive Order 14042, which applies new rules – including vaccination mandates – to Federal contractors and subcontractors. EO 14042 does not include a weekly testing option and is...more
11/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
OSHA ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) to implement COVID safety protocols for Federal service contractors and subcontractors. While the EO did not outline specific rules, it did direct a Federal...more
10/8/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employees ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) to implement COVID safety protocols for Federal service contractors. While the EO did not identify specific safety protocols, it did direct a Federal task...more
9/16/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OSHA ,
Prime Contractor ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In 1657, mathematician Blaise Pascal commented in a letter to his church leaders “I have made this longer than usual because I did not have time to make it shorter.” More than 100 years later, another Frenchman, Napoleon...more
6/17/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Crisis Management ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Health Care Providers ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Internal Investigations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Shareholder Litigation
Last week, we (Ryan and Jonathan) published the COVID-19 Federal Contractor’s Survival Guide in the Coalition For Government Procurement’s Friday Flash. The Guide was very well received – perhaps because it didn’t once...more
On March 18, 2020, the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, H.R. 6201, Pub. L. No. 116-127 (the “Coronavirus Response Act”). Among other measures in response to the current pandemic, this...more
4/2/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Distributors ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Immunity ,
Manufacturers ,
Medical Devices ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) ,
State of Emergency ,
Wrongful Death
Like you, we’ve been thinking a lot about COVID-19 (aka the coronavirus) lately, and the mountain of misinformation that has followed in its wake. While we concede we have stopped shaking people’s hands (which likely turned...more
On August 13, 2018, President Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2019. While the annual NDAAs are tracked, analyzed, and picked apart with great care by the federal contracting community,...more
1/31/2020
/ China ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Huawei ,
National Institute of Health (NIH) ,
NDAA ,
Prime Contractor ,
Technology ,
TRICARE ,
ZTE
At the end of 2019, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) took another step to limit the potential cyber risks posed by telecommunications equipment manufactured by Chinese companies (and potentially Russian ones too). We...more
1/31/2020
/ China ,
Comment Period ,
Cybersecurity ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Huawei ,
Interim Rule ,
NDAA ,
System For Award Management (SAM) ,
Telecommunications ,
ZTE
“Section 889(a)(1)(A) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 prohibits the Federal Government from procuring or obtaining, or extending or renewing a contract to procure or obtain, ‘any...more
1/16/2020
/ China ,
Compliance ,
Exports ,
Federal Contractors ,
Foreign Policy ,
Huawei ,
Imports ,
NDAA ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
Telecommunications ,
US Trade Policies
As you probably know, we have been following very closely developments relating to Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which prohibits executive agencies from purchasing restricted products and...more
This month, and with great fanfare, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its creation of a Procurement Collusion Strike Force. We know what you’re thinking, and no – this Strike Force will not be starring in the...more
11/26/2019
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Collusion ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
DCIS ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DOJ Strike Force ,
FBI ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Inspector General ,
Price-Fixing ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
State Attorneys ,
USPS
An Analysis of NDAA Section 846’s Online Marketplace Provisions -
There has been a lot of speculation about the future of commercial items purchasing within the federal Government since Representative Mac Thornberry...more
In the words of Taylor Swift, “This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” While I suspect Ms. Swift was not writing about Section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 when she tweeted this...more
On May 18, 2017, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry introduced H.R. 2511, titled “The Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act.” The bill drastically would change how commercial off-the-shelf...more
You no doubt have heard by now about GSA’s 23 June effort to “embrace modern technology while moving away from outmoded practices” – specifically, its implementation of the new Transactional Data Reporting Rule (“TDR Rule”)...more
Note: The following post is adapted from the forthcoming 2016/2017 GSA Schedule Handbook, published by ThompsonWest, due out later this year.
Any way you look at it, 2016 will be an interesting year. You may have heard...more
The last year has been a tough one for the GSA Multiple Award Schedules (“MAS”) program. The Federal Acquisition Service (“FAS”) – the agency charged with administering the MAS program – has struggled to re-invent itself and...more