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Following a tumultuous start to fiscal year 2026, including a government shutdown that lasted 43 days, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026 (NDAA 2026), Pub. L. 119-60, was passed by Congress and signed into law on December 18, 2025. NDAA 2026 is a critical legislative act, setting acquisition reforms and policies and authorizing appropriations and funding levels for the Department of Defense (DoD). With $900.6 billion in funding for the DoD, NDAA 2026 contains a plethora of acquisition reform provisions and critical updates impacting defense contractors. Title XVIII of NDAA 2026 significantly increased certain acquisition thresholds, including triggers for the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act (formerly the Truth in Negotiations Act) and Cost Accounting Standards application, which you can read about here. Additionally, NDAA 2026 increases the thresholds for noncompetitive acquisitions and when information technology requirements qualify as a major system.Continue Reading FY2026 NDAA: Major Increases to Critical Acquisition Thresholds

Connecticut has become an unexpected focal point for bid rigging enforcement in public contracting. Many government contractors still see this risk as a federal problem driven by the Department of Justice and the Procurement Collusion Strike Force. Yet Connecticut is showing that a state attorney general, using state antitrust law, can reshape everyday service contracts in a very direct way.Continue Reading Procurement Collusion Strike Force: The State Edition

The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new Data Security Program (DSP), designed to protect sensitive information and national security-related data from misuse by foreign actors, took full effect on October 6, 2025. The program introduces new restrictions on how companies handle and share sensitive US personal data and government-related data, especially when certain foreign entities are involved. With enforcement underway, companies should understand who is covered, what activities are restricted, and what compliance measures are required. Failure to comply with the rules can result in civil or criminal penalties.Continue Reading DOJ Launches New Data Security Program—What Your Company Needs to Know

Drumroll, please. On November 7, 2025, the Department of Defense (DoD) released three memoranda signaling changes to its approach to procurement and Foreign Military Sales/Direct Commercial Sales in the years to come: “Unifying the Department’s Arms Transfer and Security Cooperation Enterprise to Improve Efficiency and Enable Burden-Sharing”; “Reforming the Joint Requirements Process to Accelerate Fielding of Warfighting Capabilities”; and “Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities to Our Warriors.” The latter memorandum appends the DoD’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy (the Strategy), which is aimed at dramatically reforming how the DoD’s acquisition system operates with an eye toward increasing the speed and flexibility of DoD procurements and the acquisition workforce. This document begins the march toward sunsetting the existing Defense Acquisition System in favor of what is envisioned to be a more rapid and effective system designed to provide the DoD with the capabilities it needs to meet its mission requirements.Continue Reading The Drumbeat of Progress: DOD’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy

The DoD has finally crossed the CMMC finish line, but for contractors, the race is just beginning. With the Final Rule effective Nov. 10, award eligibility will hinge on a “current” CMMC status in SPRS, backed by annual affirmations and strict compliance. The next two months are critical for getting race-ready. In this Featured Comment…

Government procurement is essential to modern governance. But when firms rig bids, allocate markets, or otherwise collude, taxpayers pay more, honest competitors are shut out, and trust erodes. In recent months, US agencies have continued to emphasize the importance of fair competition in government procurement, scrutinizing regulations that may favor incumbents or unfairly limit competition and expanding whistleblower options.Continue Reading Rigging the Game? Antitrust Risks in the Public Contracting Arena

“Ding ding.” – Apollo Creed,
Rocky III

September 30. All (most?) federal years end the same way, at least on paper—like a prizefight, with the clock ticking down; an agitated, uncertain crowd; a lot of money on the table; and a ref capable of stopping the match at any moment. This year will be at once both no different and a completely different beast. With ever-recent uncertainty surrounding appropriations, continuing-resolution (CR) risk, evolving Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) language, the tightening screws of cyber attestations, industry supply-chain and acquisition changes, and grant closeouts that always take longer than you’d think, September is not a month for contractor improvisation. It’s a month when a dedicated corner team, a game plan, and crisp execution all are paramount.Continue Reading And in This Corner … the Sweet Science of Federal Contracting’s Year-End

For those who grew up gripping a joystick and dodging alien fire in Defender, riding ostriches through floating platforms in Joust, or crossing a hectic freeway in Frogger, winning wasn’t about memorizing rules; it was about adapting fast, reading the patterns, and leveling up. That same urgency now applies to federal information and communication technology (ICT) contractors. A sweeping overhaul of FAR Part 39 has just been released, and while it may not blink and beep like a cabinet in a darkened arcade, it’s just as demanding. There’s no attract mode here. The game has already started.Continue Reading FAR 2.0 Part 39 in Arcade Mode—How Federal IT Acquisition Just Hit Reset

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…