On April 3, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued two memoranda implementing President Trump’s Executive Order 14179, Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. Memorandum M-25-21,...more
Amidst the ongoing flurry of executive actions targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) programs and policies, causing confusion and disruption across the federal government and private sectors, companies are...more
2/20/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
President Trump has called himself the “Tariff Man” and has said that “Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented.”[1] It therefore should come as no surprise that, in the first month since taking office, he has announced...more
2/11/2025
/ Canada ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Foreign Policy ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Mexico ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”), rescinding affirmative action under Executive Order 11246 and other...more
2/7/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Trump Administration ,
Whistleblowers
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issued its long awaited proposed rule on Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) on January 15, 2025. The proposed rule establishes a common form to be used by all federal...more
1/24/2025
/ Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Defense Contracts ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Agencies ,
NIST ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Subcontractors ,
Subcontracts
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
The Procurement Integrity Act (“PIA”), codified at 41 U.S.C. § 2101–2107, is intended to prevent unethical and improper competitive practices from influencing federal procurements. To achieve this end, the PIA prohibits...more
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States overruled a cornerstone of contemporary administrative law when it determined, in a 6-3 ruling, that the Supreme Court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural...more
On May 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) issued an important class deviation that provides necessary relief for contractors endeavoring to comply with ever-changing cybersecurity requirements. The deviation...more
In what can best be described as a tsunami of cybersecurity regulation, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council—consisting of the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National...more
10/9/2023
/ Cloud Storage ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Information Technology ,
Internet of Things ,
NASA ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
NIST ,
OMB ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
Risk Management ,
Subcontractors
On May 10, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) released an Initial Public Draft of Revision 3 to NIST Special Publication (“SP”) 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in...more
This month’s bid protest round up focuses on three recent decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). These decisions involve (1) standing at the Court where protest...more
This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight examines three protest decisions addressing (1) mismatches between proposed labor categories and the scope of a vendor’s underlying General Services Administration...more
5/12/2021
/ Bid Protests ,
BPA ,
COFC ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Information Technology ,
Software ,
Solicitation ,
USDA ,
Vendors
In the latest installment of our bid protest spotlight (featured on Law360), we analyze three Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions that provide important reminders for companies considering whether to protest a...more
11/13/2020
/ Bid Protests ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
HUD ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Request for Proposals ,
USDA
This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight features three noteworthy decisions from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) concerning reprocurement contracts, timeliness rules, and discussions. Steel...more
For this month’s bid protest roundup, we have identified four diverse bid protest decisions coming out of the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The first two, CDO Technologies and...more
The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) started off the new year by reaffirming old rules pertaining to organizational conflicts of interest and discussions. GAO’s decisions show that while time marches forward, old...more
In February 2017, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released notable decisions addressing (1) the effect of the temporary lapse in GAO’s civilian task order jurisdiction; (2) discussions, clarifications, and...more
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exhibited little interest in evaluating the basis for agency decisions to waive organizational conflicts of interest (OCI).
Where protesters have challenged agency waiver...more
In 2014, the Small Business Administration reported that almost a quarter of approximately $367 billion of eligible funding for small business contracting, or roughly $91.7 billion, was awarded to small businesses as prime...more
10/29/2015
/ Certifications ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
False Statements ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
GAO ,
Indemnification ,
Misrepresentation ,
OIG ,
Qui Tam ,
SBA ,
Scienter ,
Settlement ,
Small Business ,
Subcontractors ,
Veterans ,
WOSB