Compliance

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“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite! The claws that catch!”

– Lewis Carroll: “Jabberwocky,” Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872)

There is a growing sense of confusion and unease among many federal contractors and grant recipients in these early days of the second Trump administration. In a time when some agencies face dislocation and downsizing (or, as with USAID, effective disbandment), contractors may feel like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass into a world strangely inverted from the one they knew. This shift is especially evident in the administration’s rejection of seemingly all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies—long used to prevent discrimination, comply with civil rights laws, and foster inclusive environments in the American workforce.Continue Reading Through the Looking Glass: Shifting DEI Standards Expose Contractors to False Claims Act Risk

On April 15, 2025, the Department of Defense (DoD) released official guidance on Organizationally Defined Parameters (ODPs) appearing in the newly published NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3. At the same time, the DoD reaffirmed that contractors must continue complying with Revision 2 thanks to a previously issued class deviation. What does this mean in plain terms? The DoD is slowly pulling back the curtain on the next major shift in cybersecurity compliance. Still, the full prestige hasn’t happened yet.Continue Reading The “Prestige”: DoD Unveils NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3, Organizationally Defined Parameters

Amid a flurry of executive orders starting his second administration, President Donald Trump issued an order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”) on January 21, 2025. The Order will have an immediate impact on federal contractors and subcontractors currently subject to the affirmative action obligations concerning women and minorities under now-revoked Executive Order 11246 dated September 24, 1965 (and the subsequent executive orders that refined these obligations). It also signals a significant change in the focus of federal enforcement of equal opportunity laws. The Order does NOT, however, change any of the substantive federal law regarding employment discrimination. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it remains illegal for employers to make employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Other federal and state statutes prohibit making employment decisions on various other bases, including age, disability, genetic make-up, etc.; none of these substantive laws have been changed. So what has changed?Continue Reading DEI, Discrimination, Affirmative Action and More: How the Recent Executive Order Impacts Private Employers

The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ or Division) recently released a revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust Investigations (Guidance). The Guidance reflects how the Division assesses the effectiveness and adequateness of a company’s antitrust compliance program. The Guidance offers insight into the Division’s evaluations of antitrust compliance programs at the charging and the sentencing stages of a criminal prosecution but is equally applicable to civil compliance. Adherence to the Guidance improves the chances a company can receive leniency and reduces the risk of prosecution should a violation occur.Continue Reading Antitrust Corporate Compliance Programs: Late 2024 Changes Mean Companies Should Revisit Their Programs Early in 2025

In Part I of this series we introduced readers to what Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is understood to consist of under the CUI Program at 32 CFR pt. 2002, differentiating and safeguarding CUI, CUI Program Authority and Control, and CUI policy as promulgated under the U.S. Department of Defense CUI Program. (See 66 GC ¶…

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program will become operational at some point in fiscal year 2025. In October, the DOD issued a Final Rule to address evolving cybersecurity requirements and cyber threats while defining the security controls that DOD intends defense contractors and subcontractors to implement. The program will require…

Over the course of the past few years, gallons of ink have been spilled addressing the seemingly ever-pending US Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program. After keeping us waiting for years, it finally arrived when, on October 15, 2024, DoD published its Final Rule to establish the CMMC Program. See 89 Fed. Reg. 83092 (Oct. 15, 2024). Effective December 16, 2024, the Rule will require certain defense contractors to have implemented security measures to achieve a particular CMMC level necessary to safeguard Federal Contract Information (FCI) or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) as a condition of contract award. Codified at 34 C.F.R. Part 170, the CMMC Program will be augmented by a separate proposed acquisition rule to add a new 48 C.F.R. Part 204, amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to address procurement considerations related to the CMMC Program, including allowing DoD to require a specific CMMC level in a solicitation or contract. See 89 Fed. Reg. 66327 (Aug. 15, 2024) or our analyses here and here. The date when that DFARS clause will become final is still unclear, but most suspect it will be soon.Continue Reading A Standard on Many Levels: A Look at CMMC 2.0 in Final

Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
’Cause Hell’s broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards
And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose the Devil gets your soul
~ The Charlie Daniels Band

Some might say there’s little difference between dealing with the devil and being a federal contractor. And for the unwary or unprepared, that may not be far off. Federal contracting comes with a litany of “fine print” that would make “Old Scratch” proud. However, as most savvy contractors recognize, it’s all hiding in plain sight, with the devil in the details. Take, for example, the cybersecurity requirements found in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) at 52.204-21 and the Department of Defense (DoD) FAR Supplement (DFARS) at 252.204-7012, -7019, and -7020. These requirements have been the topic of countless articles, trainings, webinars, whole conferences, etc., so it is surprising while simultaneously not surprising that they form the basis of a federal False Claims Act (FCA) claim the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed in its complaint in intervention.Continue Reading DOJ Went Down to Georgia: Lessons Learned from Recent Cybersecurity Enforcement Actions

On April 29, 2024, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released guidance to federal contractors regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their employment practices. See https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/ai/ai-eeo-guide. The guidance reminds federal contractors of their existing legal obligations, the potentially harmful effects of AI on employment decisions if used improperly, and best practices. Arriving early, the guidance puts contractors on notice of their responsibilities when using AI in their employment decisions.Continue Reading Department of Labor Issues New Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Employment Decision-Making

“Arm me with harmony.” – Treach, Naughty By Nature[1]

On May 14, 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) dropped the third remix…er, revision…of its Special Publication (SP) 800-171, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations.” It even came with a critical sidekick in the form of the companion assessment guide, “NIST SP 800-171A, Revision 3,” which gives organizations the necessary lowdown on “assessment procedures and methodologies” to check if they’re playing by NIST SP 800-171’s rules. Over a year in the making after previous releases in May and November of 2023, NIST’s finalized revision takes inspiration from industry by laying down the cybersecurity rules that contractors should expect to follow when handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) for the US Department of Defense (DoD). While DoD isn’t requiring contractors who handle CUI to roll with Rev. 3 just yet, contractors can expect that DoD will eventually bring Rev. 3 into the mix for DFARS 252.204-7012, “Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting” (DFARS 7012), and will be harmonizing it with the upcoming Cyber Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program at some point soon.Continue Reading NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3 Goes Final: Who’s Down with ODP?