On January 29, the Biden administration announced several policy initiatives aimed at addressing pay transparency and equity, including a proposed rule issued by the Department of Defense (DOD), General Services...more
2/16/2024
/ Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (FPASA) ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
NASA ,
OFPP ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
On December 26, the Department of Defense (DoD) published its long-awaited Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program proposed rule, which places comprehensive cybersecurity and information security...more
1/3/2024
/ Certification Requirements ,
Comment Period ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
DCMA ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Contractors ,
NIST ,
Proposed Rules
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 October 5, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) issued a joint notice (Joint Notice) with the Small Business Association (SBA) and in coordination with the Department of Defense (DOD) clarifying that the...more
On October 26, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent its annual bid protest report to Congress, which reflected a dramatic increase in protests filed following four straight years of decline.
The report provides...more
The health of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) has been brought to the fore as the United States responds to wars in Ukraine and Israel. Unfortunately, according to the National Defense Industrial Association’s “Vital Signs”...more
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which aims to curb illicit financial activities like money laundering and other fraudulent activities, will go into effect on January 1, 2024. Consequentially, many types of businesses,...more
10/20/2023
/ Beneficial Owner ,
Corporate Transparency Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Penalties ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Small Business ,
Smaller Reporting Companies
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
On September 29, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reopened its Certify portal to new applicants seeking admittance into the SBA 8(a) program....more
The July 19 Ultima ruling threw the 8(a) program into tumult after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee found the program’s rebuttable presumption mechanism, used to find social disadvantage, in...more
Whether through the vaccine mandate, minimum wage increase, emissions disclosure rules, or now with Buy America (BA) rules, the Biden administration has long used the government contracting community to advance its domestic...more
On July 19, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled in favor of Ultima Services Corporation, prompting the pause of new 8(a) applications and necessitating a reorganization of the program’s...more
8/24/2023
/ 8(a) Program ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Eligibility ,
Equal Protection ,
Federal Contractors ,
Interim Guidance ,
Mentor-Protege Program ,
Race Discrimination ,
SBA ,
Small Business ,
Women-Owned Businesses ,
WOSB
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
Effective May 30, 2023, a Small Business Administration (SBA) final rule made some notable changes to SBA’s 8(a) Business Development (BD) program, a valuable resource for those firms owned by socially and economically...more
On April 27, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a final rule which, effective May 30, will make a number of changes to the SBA regulations impacting small businesses. The regulations, finalizing the proposed rule...more
5/26/2023
/ 8(a) Program ,
Certifications ,
Final Rules ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Notice of Non-Compliance ,
Penalties ,
Proposed Rules ,
SBA ,
Small Business ,
Subcontractors ,
Subcontracts
On March 22, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a proposed rule that would amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations (DFARS) to require certain contractors to provide the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)...more
On August 9, 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law allocating $52.7 billion in funding to the semiconductor industry. The legislation represents a historic investment in a critical industry and is designed 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
Over the last few years, the government has shifted away from lowest price technically acceptable valuations placing a larger importance on past performance. The past performance requirement can sometimes create obstacles for...more
2/21/2023
/ Bid Protests ,
Bids ,
Business Development ,
Contract Terms ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Joint Venture ,
Mentor-Protege Program ,
Prime Contractor ,
Small Business ,
Solicitation ,
Subcontractors
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
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program has an interesting construction. With seemingly no competition to bring size protests and the successful completion of a previous grant before a second grant, the unusual...more
1/13/2023
/ Appeals ,
Clawbacks ,
Due Diligence ,
Federal Contractors ,
Funding ,
Joint Venture ,
Reauthorization ,
SBA ,
SBIRs ,
Small Business ,
Subcontractors
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
Unprecedented inflation levels have caused substantial hardship on government contractors during the last year – especially those with firm fixed-price contracts. Fortunately, meaningful help may be on its way. The Senate...more
As President Biden prepared to jet off to the United Nations COP27 Climate Summit in Egypt, his administration announced a proposed rule that would dramatically enhance government contractors’ compliance obligations related...more
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is a historic investment in our nation’s roads, bridges, railways, airports and transportation systems. The bill appropriates $550 billion to physical infrastructure projects,...more