Cost, Compliance & Risks

The Prospect of False Claims Act’s Treble Damages Requires Meticulous Recordkeeping Under the CARES Act

On April 10, 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced its effort to root out fraud associated with the billions of dollars in payments promised under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The Congressional watchdog is encouraging individuals – private citizens, government workers, contractors, etc. – to anonymously and confidentially report any allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement through FraudNet (the GAO’s fraud-reporting website), via e-mail or by calling 1-800-424-5454 (the GAO’s automated phone answering system). The GAO, of course, is seeking as much detail as possible about any allegations so the reports can be handed off to its own investigative unit, appropriate inspector general offices, or to the ultimate enforcer – the Department of Justice.Continue Reading Borrowers Beware: GAO Ramps Up Efforts to Root Out Fraud Among CARES Act Loan Recipients

On April 8, 2020, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a Class Deviation authorizing contracting officers to use a new cost principle – DFARS 231.205-79, CARES Act Section 3610 Implementation – to permit the reimbursement of certain leave-related costs incurred by contractors in accordance with Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. L. 116-136).  Additional clarification regarding the application of the new cost principle was issued on April 9, 2020, through the publication of a “living” FAQ document intended to answer critical questions for contractors.  While the FAQ information does not clarify the Government’s position on all potential issues associated with the implementation of Section 3610, it does provide a blueprint that contractors seeking reimbursement should follow.
Continue Reading DoD CARES After All – New Cost Principle and DFARS Clause Implements CARES Act for Certain COVID-19 Costs

In a Class Determination and Findings (CD&F) published on April 3, 2020, the GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive directed that certain limited supplies to combat the COVID-19 virus identified in the CD&F may be acquired without regard to the domestic preference restrictions imposed by the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and the Buy American Act (BAA) clauses included in the GSA Schedule and GSA individual procurements. The Senior Procurement Executive concluded that waivers of the domestic preference restrictions were warranted based on scarcity in that the supplies were deemed “temporarily unavailable in sufficient quantity or satisfactory quality” or not “mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably commercial quantities of a satisfactory quality.”
Continue Reading General Services Administration Issues Class-Wide Waiver of Trade Agreements Act and Buy American Act for All GSA Contracts and Schedules for Supplies to Combat the COVID-19 Virus

On March 31, 2020, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment issued a memorandum attaching a class Commercial Item Determination (CID) promulgated by the Defense Contract Management Agency Commercial Item Group (DCMA CIG) identifying as commercial items specific products and services needed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to address the COVID-19 pandemic (Memorandum).  The Memorandum is specifically intended to “allow contracting officers maximum flexibility” in awarding critical contracts for supplies and services needed for the DoD to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Memorandum is expected to facilitate the award of “urgent commercial item procurements,” and the class CID is specifically “limited to the information pertaining to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.”
Continue Reading Commerciality in the Time of Coronavirus—DCMA Issues New Class Commercial Item Determination and Guidance

As most federal contractors know all too well, the United States Government is not always an easy customer.  This is particularly true in circumstances where a contractor encounters performance impacts and seeks to recover increased costs and/or endeavors to secure a schedule extension.  The Government’s negotiating posture in response to these types of requests is seldom inviting.
Continue Reading DoD Extends a Hand to Federal Contractors Navigating the Impacts of COVID-19

This week, the State of Hawai`i instituted some of the most sweeping emergency orders in the country in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For tourists, tourism, federal employees, federal contractors, and the millions of island residents, this means a very different kind of stay while in paradise.
Continue Reading COVID-19 Response — Locked In Paradise — Hawai`i Issues Robust Stay-at-Home and Mandatory Quarantine Orders for Visitors and Residents

As most government contractors are aware, progress payments are a form of contract financing in which the Government pays the contractor based on cost throughout performance of the contract, up to a cap dictated by the terms of the contract.  On March 20, 2020 – “in response to the Coronavirus Disease” – the Department of Defense issued a Class Deviation to contract clauses DFARS 252.232-7004 and FAR 52.232-16, the effect of which is to increase the progress payment rates to 90% for large business concerns and 95% for small business concerns – an increase of 10% and 5%, respectively – from the customary progress payment rates established by DFARS 232.501-1.  The Class Deviation provides that the change is to remain in effect until rescinded.
Continue Reading COVID-19 Update: Department of Defense Issues Class Deviation, Increasing Certain Progress Payment Ceilings

For several years, we have witnessed the emergence of a statutory and regulatory framework to tighten controls on the export of emerging and critical technology, as well as the review of inward foreign investment into said technology. As was evident in the listing of Huawei and other Chinese technology giants, the United States has demonstrated a willingness to use alternative punitive measures against China. Whether the desired impact of this approach has been achieved is difficult to determine. We have, nevertheless, no reason to believe that the tide will ebb in 2020.
Continue Reading Export Controls and Global Trade: A Forecast and the Year in Review

There’s an often mistranslated Taoist adage that counsels “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” So it is presently with the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), which continues its cybersecurity journey with the recently released update of standard CMMC .6.
Continue Reading Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Version .6: Another Step on the Department of Defense’s Long and Winding Cybersecurity Road

In a rule published and effective October 9, 2019, China’s key manufacturers of video surveillance products have been added to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List by an interagency End-User Review Committee (ERC) comprised of representatives of the Departments of Commerce State, Defense, Energy and, where appropriate, Treasury. The Entity List (15 CFR, Subchapter C, part 744, Supplement No. 4) identifies entities believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.
Continue Reading Hikvision, Dahua Technology Among 28 Added to Entity List, Resulting in Broad Impact on Chinese Surveillance, Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition Firms