At the end of 2024, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) published a plan (“Restoring Freedom’s Forge: American Innovation Unleashed”) and introduced a bill (the Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency in Defense Act or FoRGED...more
4/25/2025
/ Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Supply Chain
The Federal Acquisition Regulation, initially issued on April 1, 1984, appears poised to be rewritten. Several online sources reference a GSA announcement posted on Friday, April 4, that supposedly heralded a bottom-up...more
In recent years, presidents have attempted to impose minimum wage requirements on federal contractors without the need to go through Congress. These requirements have been in addition to the wage floors set by individual...more
We continue our discussion of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent final rule on various small business programs. We previously discussed SBA’s changes to the effect of recertifications under multiple award...more
We continue our discussion of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent final rule on various small business programs. We previously discussed SBA’s changes to the effect of recertifications under multiple award...more
On January 15, 2025, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council published a proposed rule overhauling the FAR’s Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) provisions. The proposed rule follows a December 2022 law that...more
1/23/2025
/ Bias ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Contract Terms ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Donald Trump ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Government Agencies ,
Mitigation ,
Offerors ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Subcontractors
On January 8, 2025, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council withdrew a proposed rule that would have banned federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking or...more
1/10/2025
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
NDAA ,
OFPP ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subcontractors ,
Wage and Hour
On December 23, 2024, President Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The annual bill authorizes spending for the Department of Defense (DOD) while setting other...more
1/9/2025
/ Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ,
Bid Protests ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Joe Biden ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Secretary of Defense ,
Small Business ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Secrets
We continue our discussion of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent final rule on various small business programs. Today, we focus on revisions to the regulations governing size protests and requests for formal...more
1/8/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Deadlines ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
Government Agencies ,
HUBZone ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Protests ,
Recertification ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SBA ,
Set-Asides ,
Small Business
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council has issued a final rule, effective January 17, 2025, to improve the consistency between the procurement and nonprocurement procedures for suspension and debarment. The changes,...more
Buried in Section 885 of the current draft of the National Defense Authorization Action (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 is a new attempt to figure out how to make unsuccessful bid protesters pay. As of this posting, the NDAA has...more
In a lengthy and complex effort, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule on December 17, 2024, that amended many requirements related to small business contracting. As with most rules, there are some...more
12/19/2024
/ BPA ,
Buyers ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Investment ,
Minority Shareholders ,
Recertification ,
SBA ,
SDVOSB ,
Set-Aside Contracts ,
Shareholders ,
Small Business ,
Women-Owned Businesses
Nearly a year ago, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) no later than July 1, 2024, “to...more
On October 25, 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a proposed rule to mandate a Rule of Two analysis for most task and delivery order competitions, except under Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. ...more
This article is part of a monthly column that provides takeaways from recent bid protest cases. In this installment, we highlight decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government...more
10/8/2024
/ Bid Protests ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Documentation ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Solicitation ,
U.S. Navy
The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) has yet again clarified that a company’s size change in connection with a merger-and-acquisition event generally does not prevent the company from...more
Is it finally time to fix the outdated, incomplete, and often misunderstood novation regulations? Maybe. On April 5, 2024, the FAR Council released a Notice and Request for Comments requesting comments from federal...more
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a policy memorandum with a goal of promoting small business participation under multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts (MACs). One of the...more
Small business regulations create one of the stickier wickets in bid protest litigation. Although the Small Business Administration (SBA) has exclusive authority to determine a company’s size and socioeconomic status, the...more
This month's protest spotlight highlights three decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The decisions feature arguments that unsuccessful offerors often want to make, but that are rarely successful, as well as...more
12/7/2023
/ Bias ,
Bid Protests ,
Competition ,
Competitive Bidding ,
Contractors ,
Favoritism ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Good Faith ,
Offerors ,
Solicitation ,
Unfair Competition
In the right circumstances, an agency-level protest can be a quick and efficient way to address certain procurement errors, as we discussed a few years ago. One downside of agency‑level protests, however, is their potential...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued a final rule amending its regulation on lower-tier small business subcontracting credit to account for statutory changes introduced in the National Defense Authorization Act...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Information Security Oversight Office (ISSO) have issued a Joint Notice to clarify how Facility Security Clearances (FCLs) (also called Entity Eligibility Determinations, or...more
This month’s bid protest roundup looks at two GAO protests from August. One examines the risks of using former federal employees to assist with proposal development when their prior access to non-public information might...more
9/20/2023
/ Bid Protests ,
Buy American Act ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Construction Project ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
GAO ,
Material Suppliers ,
Offerors ,
Waivers
Recent changes to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations affect how large businesses can take small business credit for subcontracting to their own mentor-protégé joint ventures (MPJVs). SBA’s final rule...more