The Government Contracts Quarterly Update is published by BakerHostetler’s Government Contracts Practice Group to inform our clients and friends of the latest developments in federal government contracting.

In This Issue:

- 2014 Appropriations Act Softens China-IT Restrictions for Contractors

- Minimum Wage Increased to $10.10 for Contractors

- Decrease in Allowable Individual Compensation for 2014

- Voluntarily Lowered FCA Award Avoids Excessive Fines Clause

- GAO Ruling Creates an Exemption to the Ten-Day Protest Deadline

- GAO Study on Sequestration Observes a Pronounced Effect on Agencies

- GAO to Institute Filing Fee for Bid Protests

- War-Zone Contracts Are Not Exempt From Obligation to Justify Cost Reasonableness

- Long-Term Suspension of Affiliate Does Not Violate Due Process

- New Disability and Veteran Hiring Rules Take Effect

- President Obama Narrows “White Collar” Exemption, Expanding Eligibility for Overtime Pay

- Legislative and Regulatory Updates

- Excerpt from 2014 Appropriations Act Softens China-IT Restrictions for Contractors:

In the April 2013 edition of the Quarterly, we discussed how the 2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (“2013 Act”) potentially prohibited the Departments of Justice and Commerce, NASA, and the National Science Foundation from acquiring IT equipment from companies that are owned, directed, or subsidized by the Chinese government. However, the $1.1 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (the “2014 Act”), signed into law on Jan. 17, 2014, scaled-back China-IT supply chain restrictions. See Title V, § 515. Although the new law still singles out China as a potential threat, the law pivots from a geographic approach to a risk-based approach.