U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contractors with foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) soon will face new requirements. Though cleared DOD contractors have long been bound by FOCI obligations, the new rule will...more
4/24/2025
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Covered Entities ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Foreign Entities ,
Foreign Nationals ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Subcontractors ,
Supply Chain
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on federal procurement titled "Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement" on April 15, 2025 (the April 15 EO), directing that the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) be...more
4/21/2025
/ Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Government Agencies ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
OMB ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
President Donald Trump on April 9, 2025, signed three executive orders (EOs) focused on accelerating defense procurement, improving foreign defense sales between the U.S. and its allies and revitalizing American maritime...more
4/14/2025
/ Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
National Security ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
As Holland & Knight previously discussed, the Trump Administration issued an executive order (EO) on Feb. 26, 2025, implementing the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) "cost efficiency initiative" that (among...more
4/4/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Contract Termination ,
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Grants ,
Grants ,
Mitigation ,
Popular ,
Strategic Planning ,
Trump Administration
In a decision published on Feb. 24, 2025, Judge Armando Bonilla of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC or Court) weighed in on the ongoing debate about jurisdiction over protests of other transaction agreements (OTAs). The...more
3/18/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Bid Protests ,
Contracts Clause ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Agencies ,
Jurisdiction ,
Popular ,
Raytheon ,
Tucker Act
Earlier this year, the FAR Council issued a proposed rule to implement the Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) Program as it relates to federal contracts. The proposed rule is "just one element of a larger strategy to...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the president lacks authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to set a federal contractor minimum wage, creating a split with other...more
11/12/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Davis-Bacon Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Wage ,
Obama Administration ,
Popular ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Split of Authority ,
Wage and Hour
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on June 6, 2024, published a Final Rule (the Rule) to eliminate self-certification for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) whose federal government contracts...more
Recipients of grants and other forms of federal financial assistance will soon get much-needed relief from the heavy access, administrative and compliance burdens currently imposed by the Office of Management and Budget's...more
Note: This is the second article in our series on capturing industrial base funding from the U.S. Department of Defense In our last post, we discussed the Defense Production Act (DPA) and Technology Investment Agreement...more
3/22/2024
/ Competitive Bidding ,
Contract Terms ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Defense Production Act ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Research and Development ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector
As in prior years, the upcoming end of the federal fiscal year will be marked by a flurry of contract and task order awards, as federal agencies busily obligate remaining fiscal year 2023 appropriated funds while still...more
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the federal government has committed to funding more than $1 trillion for projects involving construction, manufacturing and energy initiatives. Much of this funding will be...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its annual Bid Protest Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022 on Nov. 1, 2022. The annual report is a requirement of the Competition in Contracting Act and an...more
U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker of the Southern District of Georgia on Dec. 7, 2021, issued a preliminary injunction, halting the government's enforcement of the federal contractor vaccine mandate on all federal...more
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky on Nov. 30, 2021, issued a preliminary injunction, halting the government's enforcement of the federal contractor vaccine mandate on federal...more
12/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Scope of Authority ,
Subcontractors ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Vaccinations
The Biden Administration on Nov. 4, 2021, announced that it is revising the deadline for the federal contractor vaccination requirement from Dec. 8, 2021, to "no later than January 4, 2022." The White House is revising the...more
The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force released updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Federal Contractors on Nov. 1, 2021, regarding its COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors...more
11/4/2021
/ Affiliates ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Discipline ,
Employer Mandates ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Good Faith ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Public Employees ,
Public Employers ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Safety Precautions ,
SBA ,
Social Distancing ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
As required by President Joe Biden's Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors on Sept. 9, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (the Task Force) issued its COVID-19 Workplace...more
9/27/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
New Guidance ,
Public Contracts ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Subcontractors ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The Biden Administration released guidance on Aug. 3, 2021, providing additional clarification regarding COVID-19 vaccine attestation and testing for government contractor personnel who work on a federal government-controlled...more
Late last year in the Holland & Knight blog post, "DOD's New IP Rules May Impact Contractors' Rights in Computer Software and Technical Data," the firm reported on new intellectual property (IP) rules proposed by the U.S....more
Defense contractors may soon face changes to their rights in computer software and technical data. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has proposed revisions to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS)...more
Federal contractors continue to receive additional information regarding the new restrictions on Chinese-manufactured telecommunications equipment and services under Section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization...more
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently issued Final Guidance revising sections of OMB Guidance for Grants and Agreements (Uniform Guidance). The Final Guidance – the first major revision to the Uniform Guidance...more
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a prepublication version of an interim final rule that will bar contractors from...more
With some areas of the United States starting to reopen, recipients are beginning to ramp up for performance on federal grant projects. But many aspects of the reopening phase and recipients' ability to timely ramp-up remain...more