Through a duo of Executive Orders (EOs), issued on April 15 and 16 respectively, President Trump announced “a first-of-its-kind overhaul of Federal procurement policy.” The rewrite represents a once-in-a-generation...more
On February 19, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied an appeal from an unsuccessful bidder who argued the awardee was large due to an acquisition that occurred while the award was pending. OHA found that Small...more
On November 15, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest from AtVentures, LLC, a mentor-protégé joint venture, who challenged its exclusion from consideration for award on the basis that it was able to use...more
After numerous fits and starts, on October 14, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a final rule implementing the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. Borne from documented deficiencies in the...more
11/12/2024
/ Certifications ,
Compliance ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
NIST ,
Proposed Regulation
On September 10, the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) issued an opinion in Zolon PCS II, LLC v. United States, holding that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA or Agency) unreasonably issued a deviation from FAR...more
On May 3, the Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that would prohibit executive...more
5/21/2024
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
NASA ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Semiconductors ,
Supply Chain ,
Waivers
On April 22, the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) promulgated a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement an...more
On November 17, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a final rule, implementing Section 874 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), clarifying that certain DoD-unique statutes and Defense Federal Acquisition...more
On September 21, the Biden administration approved recommendations from the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (IWG), directing federal agencies to consider the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases...more
We represented AM General (AMG), an automotive manufacturer that builds military vehicles for government customers, including the Humvee, in a successful bid protest involving a $9.7 billion contract for the U.S. Army to...more
On December 19, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a proposed rule that would amend the SBA regulations to implement Section 870 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2020. Section 870...more
Generally, when a business is awarded a multi-year IDIQ contract, it retains its “small” business designation unless a contracting officer (CO) requires the business to recertify its size status, and has since grown larger...more
On December 27, President Biden signed the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act into law. The legislation, ushered through Congress by a bipartisan group of backers, strengthens existing...more
Numet Machining Techniques, a Connecticut-based machined parts manufacturer for commercial and military aerospace engines, recently agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle alleged violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) for...more
Generally, government agencies are given broad discretion to define their needs; however, last month, the United States Court of Federal Claims chose to curtail an agency’s authority to cancel and amend bid solicitations in...more
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently issued a final rule implementing Section 828 of the NDAA for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, requiring the treatment of the majority of contracts for items awarded using Federal Acquisition...more
On December 8, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14057 “Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability.” The EO is the administration’s most recent effort to achieve “a carbon...more
1/12/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Electricity ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Infrastructure ,
Net Zero ,
Sustainability ,
Zero-Emission Vehicles
For nearly two years, we have been reporting on this blog about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. CMMC is a training, certification, and third-party assessment...more
The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that President Biden signed on November 15, expands the provisions supporting American manufacturing through federal procurement. The IIJA statutory directives...more
Organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) are troubling for both the government and contractors. Under FAR 2.101, an OCI is a situation where “a person is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assistance or advice...more
The FAR Council recently published its proposed rule to implement a part of President Biden’s January 28, 2021 Executive Order No. 14005 (EO 14005), which dictated certain revisions to the Buy American Act (BAA) regulations....more
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) decision in HWI Gear, Inc. v. United States highlights the importance of reviewing a solicitation to determine if the text of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.219-28 is included...more
On September 24, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied DynCorp International, LLC’s (DynCorp) protest of the Department of the Army’s award of a global intelligence logistics support task order to CACI...more
A recent decision in Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc. v. Department of Agriculture, CBCA 6029, 6030, by the United States Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA), upheld a contract provision that imposed greater obligations...more
9/23/2019
/ Appeals ,
CBCA ,
Contract Claims ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Liability ,
Service Contract Act ,
Wage and Hour
On November 5, 2018, the Federal Circuit held in a precedential decision that bonding requirements in FAR 52.228-15, “Performance and Payment Bonds—Construction,” were read into all construction contracts by operation of law...more