DOD

Subscribe to DOD via RSS

On December 12, 2017, President Trump signed the $700 billion 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) into law. Following negotiations between the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the NDAA includes new provisions relating to software acquisition within Title VIII — Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters, Subtitle H, and the following five sections:

SEC. 871. Noncommercial Computer Software Acquisition Considerations.

SEC. 872. Defense Innovation Board Analysis of Software Acquisition Regulations.

SEC. 873. Pilot Program to Use Agile or Iterative Development Methods to Tailor Major
Software-Intensive Warfighting Systems and Defense Business Systems.

SEC. 874. Software Development Pilot Program Using Agile Best Practices.

SEC. 875. Pilot Program for Open Source Software.

Continue Reading National Defense Authorization Act FY 2018: Directions in Federal Software Acquisitions

This article focuses on contractor licenses that grant “Restricted Rights” in “Noncommercial Software” to the federal Government under Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) 252.227-7014.  DFARS 252.227-7014 only applies to “Noncommercial Computer Software,” meaning software that is licensed to or developed for the Government, but that is not also licensed to the public.  In contrast to the commercial world, where software licensors generally set the terms under which they wish to license their products, DFARS 252.227-7014 dictates such terms, and codifies required license grants for software developed for the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”).  Under DFARS 252.227-7014, even if a licensor develops Noncommercial Software at private expense, the licensor must at least grant Restricted Rights to the Government — although title and ownership of the software always remain with the contractor licensor.
Continue Reading Restricted Rights Under DFARS 252.227-7014: Practitioner Advice for Avoiding DoD Licensing Pitfalls

Following up on his repeated promises that the government will buy American and hire American, President Trump signed a Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American (the “Order”) on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, directing executive agencies to enhance acquisition preferences for domestic products and labor under federal contracts and federal grants. Federal contractors should note that the Order serves only as a blueprint for the administration’s intentions and imposes no immediate requirements. Those will follow — but in what form and to what degree, we can only guess. Contractors should prepare for those changes and be assured that – with respect to the Order’s impact on supply chains and contractor purchasing systems – the devil will indeed be in the details.
Continue Reading The Buy American–Hire American Executive Order: There Will Be Devils in the Details When Buying American

The comment period for DoD’s proposed rule amending DFARS 212 has been extended to November 10. Click here.

The passage of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 saw the dawning of a new era in procurement policy, pursuant to which sweeping changes to the procurement laws and regulations governing the acquisition of goods and services offered and sold in the commercial marketplace took hold. These goods and services are referred to, and defined, in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) as “commercial items.” Two major effects of these legislative landmarks were: (1) the streamlining and modification of certifications and clauses required in solicitations and contracts for commercial items; and (2) the exemption of commercial item suppliers from the requirement to submit certified cost or pricing data under the Truth in Negotiations Act (“TINA”).Continue Reading Developments in DoD’s Treatment of Commercial Item Assertions