2024-2025 Bid Protest Decisions with Far-Reaching Impacts for Government Contractors
Navigating Bid Protest Choices at GAO and COFC
DE Under 3: U.S. GAO Report on Military Spouse Employment Focused on Challenges of Part-Time Work
A Discussion with GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez
GovCon Perspectives Podcast Episode 24: Effective Use of “Open and Frank” Discussions in Bid Protests
Award Protests: Choosing the Forum
How to Assess the Likelihood of Success in Deciding Whether to Bring a Bid Protest
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last Wednesday that settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act (FCA) exceeded $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2024—up approximately 5% from last year. DOJ’s announcement...more
SBA’s Proposed Changes to “Rule of Two” Increases Award Opportunities for Small Business Government Contractors. . .Maybe - On October 25, 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a proposed rule to...more
7(a) Loan Approval for Borrowers with Unresolved COVID-19 Pandemic Loan Compliance Issues: On May 21, SBA’s OIG issued an inspection report assessing SBA’s 7(a) loan approval process for borrowers with unresolved pandemic...more
FTC Non-Compete Ban Attacked by Businesses: What You Need to Know about the Ban - On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule banning employers from enforcing non-compete agreements against...more
Department of Defense (DOD) Final Rule: Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Consolidation of DOD Government Property Clauses - On December 22, 2023, DOD issued a Final Rule amending the DFARS to...more
Department of Defense (DOD) Proposed Rule: National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM); Amendment - On December 13, the DOD published a proposed rule amending the NISPOM based on public comments...more
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) grows in popularity, discussion of its potential uses and risks is everywhere. The Department of Defense (DoD) is no exception and has been considering how AI development can be helpful or...more
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT - Debt Limit Deal Would Save Feds’ Paychecks, But Freeze Agency Spending - An agreement between the White House and congressional Republicans would bring a spending freeze to federal agencies next...more
Designed for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, this newsletter seeks to bring you up to speed on key federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) developments, with links to primary resources. Each quarter, we...more
As most experts expected, Congress has passed the bill to reauthorize the SBIR and STTR programs until September 30, 2025. The bill is now headed for the White House, where the President is expected to sign it into law....more
FTC Warns Companies to Remediate Log4j Security Vulnerability - Log4j is a ubiquitous piece of software used to record activities in a wide range of systems found in consumer-facing products and services. Recently, a...more
A report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Dec. 8, 2021, highlights the complexity surrounding cybersecurity compliance for the Department of Defense (DOD) and its contractors. The GAO’s report...more
On March 4, 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published a report titled “Weapon Systems Cybersecurity: Guidance Would Help DOD Programs Better Communicate Requirements to Contractors” (the “Report”).1...more
This month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report assessing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) approach to identifying and securing critical technologies. While DOD has been operating programs to...more
UNITED STATES - Regulatory—Policy, Best Practices, and Standards - Cybersecurity Standards Issued for Government Contractors - On January 31, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and...more
NATIVE AMERICAN LAW - Emerging Issues in Native 8(a) Contracting - The House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations held a hearing titled, “Native 8(a) Contracting:...more
CYBERSECURITY & DATA PRIVACY - Start Preparing Now for DoD's Upcoming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) - For a while now, we have been writing about the increasing impact of cybersecurity on the...more
Effective October 1, 2019, a new rule issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to limit the use of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA)...more
SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS & ADVISORY SERVICES - GAO Defers to SBA on When Runway Extension Act Applies - Last year, Congress passed—and President Trump signed—the Small Business Runway Extension Act (the "Runway...more
As August recess gets underway for the House and the Senate, ML Strategies has prepared a summary of the status of this summer’s key cybersecurity issues. ML Strategies will continue to track these and other cybersecurity...more
CYBERSECURITY & DATA PRIVACY - Department of Defense – The DoD Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the protection of controlled unclassified information (CUI) on contractor-owned networks and systems....more
Congress is moving closer toward passage of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Although key differences remain between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the legislation is ultimately...more
FALSE CLAIMS ACT / LITIGATION - U.S. Supreme Court – According to Law360, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the “government knowledge” statute of limitations applies in False Claims Act cases regardless of...more
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING - The Congressional Research Service issued a report providing an overview of small business contracting. The report describes the various federal programs, requirements, procurement officers, and...more
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING - Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO)...more