As the potential for a Government shutdown gets closer to reality with each passing minute, United States Government contractors and subcontractors may soon find themselves in a confusing position as to what actions they should take in light of their existing contract obligations. In an effort to resolve that confusion, the Department of Defense has released guidance to be used by its elements and contracts in the event of a Government shutdown tonight. While directly applicable to Defense activities and constituent contracts, the guidance may assist other non-Defense contractors in addressing some of their questions or concerns.
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Lurking in the NIST—Why Federal Contractors May Be Misreading Their Cybersecurity Safeguarding Requirements
If your company sells products or services to the U.S. Government, there’s a substantial likelihood that you’ve read or heard the acronym “NIST” in connection with various cybersecurity related obligations that the Government is imposing on contractors with a seemingly unceasing vengeance. NIST refers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is a
GSA Technology Acquisitions: How Cybersecurity Threats and Cloud Services Are Changing the Way the Government Buys Technology from Commercial Companies
During the past few years, discussions in Washington, D.C. have intensified over the battle to modernize the Federal Government’s information technology (IT) systems. In May 2016, Representative Jason Chaffetz—Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives—boldly stated that American “[t]axpayers deserve a government that leverages technology to serve
Recent GAO Decision Gives Ammunition To Protesters Challenging Technical Specifications
In the course of responding to a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) or Request for Quotations (“RFQ”), have you ever encountered technical specifications that you regard as unreasonable? Have you ever wondered why the Government included those specifications in the first place and, more generally, whether those specifications are even necessary to fulfill the requirements giving rise to the acquisition? If your company is like most out there, the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes!” What to do next, you ask? A recent case before the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) is instructive.
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Protesters’ Paradise at the GAO? Understanding the Rapid Rise in the GAO’s FY 2016 Bid Protest Sustain Rate
As a bid protest lawyer, one of the most frequent questions I hear from companies considering whether to pull the trigger and file a pre- or post-award bid protest is “Can we win?” My response – regardless of the meritorious nature of the protest grounds and the corresponding flaws in the procurement – is necessarily tempered by sobering data that confirms what most seasoned government contractors already know: prevailing in a bid protest is an uphill battle. For example:
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Government Contractors Should Not Fear Contract Termination Over Twitter #ComplicatedRegulations #CostlyTerminationProvisions
Carrier. UTC. Boeing. Swamp-draining rhetoric. While many ponder what America can expect from the next administration, one thing is clear – it appears to have its eyes on government contractors. However, it is important for those eyes to study the volumes of acquisition regulations under which the government is required to operate when contracting with commercial companies. Accordingly, we thought it would be helpful to describe – through a series of explanations of 140 or fewer characters – why recent tweets about Boeing’s Air Force One contract do not reflect the current state of government contracts law and, in particular, the provisions governing termination of contracts.
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U.S. Government Open Source Software: OMB’s Memorandum on Federal Source Code Policy Exposes IP Ownership Risk
On August 8, 2016, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) promulgated an Open Source Software (“OSS”) policy via the Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies, M-16-21 (“Memorandum” or “M-16-21”). The high-level purposes of the Memorandum are to promote reuse of federal contractor and employee custom-developed code, and to improve the quality of such software through public participation. To these ends, the Memorandum has two major directives: (1) all custom-developed code must be broadly available for reuse across the federal government subject to limited exceptions (e.g., for national security and defense) and (2) under a three-year pilot program, federal agencies are required to release at least 20% of their custom-developed code to the public as OSS. The intent here is to enable continual quality improvements to the code as a result of broader public community efforts. As discussed below, the requirement to release custom-developed code as OSS may effectively reduce the creator’s ownership rights, and have economic impacts on both the value of ownership and pricing when bidding on government contracts.
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Federal Contractors and Subcontractors Subject to yet More Mandatory Disclosure Requirements
New FAR Rules and U.S. Department of Labor Guidance Implement the Long-Anticipated (and Much-Dreaded) Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order
Burdensome disclosure obligations, pay transparency, and other affirmative requirements as a condition of doing business with the federal government continue. Sound familiar? The trend continues with new Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) rules and accompanying U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) guidance issued on August 25, 2016, implementing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. In a nutshell – boiling down over 800 pages of rulemaking materials – the rules will soon require:Continue Reading Federal Contractors and Subcontractors Subject to yet More Mandatory Disclosure Requirements
Government Contractors Can Learn From Yogi Berra: Failure to Follow Correct Claim Submission Procedures Results in Jurisdictional Doom
The late, great Yogi Berra once said that “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” Sometimes it seems as if Yogi’s logic is equally applicable to the claims process in the world of Government contracting, where 90 percent of the early battle is following the correct claim initiation procedures prescribed by the Contract Disputes Act (“CDA”), 41 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109.
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AMX Case Shows Contractors Can Learn From ‘Forrest Gump’
Forrest Gump’s mama was a brilliant woman. As anyone who watched the 1994 Academy Award-winning classic can confirm, Mrs. Gump’s advice to her son provided an indispensable well of wisdom from which Forrest often drew to navigate life’s many adversities. Perhaps the most famous of Mrs. Gump’s quotes equated the unpredictability of life with the somewhat surprising discoveries one can make after removing the lid from a box of chocolates. As it turns out, contractors can learn a lot from Mrs. Gump.
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