Articles

Background — DCAA Incurred Cost Audit Emphasis Areas The DCAA and government contractors have battled the last few years over whether costs can be expressly unallowable–and therefore subject to penalties–even when the regulations do not state in direct terms that the cost is unallowable. On October 18, 2019, the US... Read More

Executive Order 13881 America First On July 15, 2019, President Trump issued a third Executive Order (EO) to strengthen the Buy American Act. EO Number 13881, Maximizing Use of American-Made Goods, Products, and Materials, directs the FAR Council to propose FAR revisions within 180 days to maximize the acquisition of... Read More

Debriefings       Debriefings are an important tool that unsuccessful bidders can, and should, use to gain valuable information. The insights obtained during a debriefing can help contractors understand the customer better, strengthen future proposals, and provide information for a potential protest. Enhanced Debriefings       The DoD and GSA recently issued... Read More

Chances to Win a Claim or Protest The first question most clients ask when we are discussing whether it makes sense to file a claim or bid protest is: “What are my chances of winning?” No one wants to file a claim or bid protest unless there is a reasonable chance of winning something out of... Read More

The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) A contractor’s past performance is a required assessment factor in source selection evaluations for all contracts that exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. The CPARS is designated as the federal government-wide system for collection of government contractor information. The CPARS helps track contractor performance,... Read More

The Bonding Requirement The Miller Act, passed by Congress in 1935, requires contractors on all federal construction projects over $150,000 to post two surety bonds as a condition of awarding the contract: a performance bond and a payment bond. The payment amount of both bonds is the full contract price,... Read More

The Context It is the long-standing US procurement policy to purchase goods, products, and materials produced in the United States when possible. The Trump administration has strongly reaffirmed and strengthened the policy. The preference to purchase American goods is established in the Buy American Act (“BAA”) and FAR 25. The... Read More

Establishment of the JAIC The Department of Defense issued a memorandum on June 27, 2018 establishing the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to oversee nearly all Artificial Intelligence (AI) development across a broad range of government agencies. According to the memorandum, DoD will establish the JAIC with the intent to... Read More

The Hot Topic Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) has been a hot legal topic in government contracts for a number of years. The basic rules are in FAR Subpart 9.5. OCI rules are intended to prevent unfair competitive advantage. Unmitigated OCI can make a contractor ineligible for contract award. There... Read More

Cybersecurity—A Growing Challenge The rise of cyber attacks and security compromises dramatically illustrate the vulnerability of unclassified, but sensitive, data. As holders of some of the government’s most sensitive data, contractors face increasing obligations for protecting against cyber attacks. Regulatory overview. The most comprehensive cyber protections currently apply to DoD... Read More

Selling and developing products for the federal government is an important piece of many clients’ business and growth plans. How well the client’s intellectual property is protected may well mean the difference between success and failure in the highly competitive government market. To be most successful, clients must both maintain... Read More

2016 National Defense Authorization Act 2016 NDAA. On November 25, 2015, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2016. The Act authorizes $515 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $89.2 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations, for a total of $604.2 billion for FY... Read More

Commercial Items Contracts What are commercial items? “Commercial items” are items that are sold to the general public or that can be easily modified to meet federal requirements. Services can also be commercial items if they are commercially offered using catalog pricing. What is a commercial item contract, and why... Read More

DOJ Settles False Claim Act Allegations for Overbilling on Service Contract Federal contractors with service contracts must strictly adhere to the required contract qualifications for each labor category included in their contract staffing plan, total compensation plan or other contract requirement. Contractors typically define their labor categories and required qualifications... Read More

Purchasing a government contractor presents unique issues that must be fully explored and understood during the merger and acquisition (M&A) due diligence process. Government contractors operate in a highly regulated environment, and as a result are faced with additional requirements and risks beyond the normal business and legal risks encountered... Read More

One of the most common questions I hear regarding doing business with the federal government goes something like this: “there are so many rules and requirements…how can I be sure my company is complying with everything?” As the government budget shrinks there is increased emphasis on oversight, compliance and following... Read More

As we saw in the first article in this series, the odds of winning some relief by filing a protest with the GAO are excellent, typically around 40% for the last five years. The next question most clients ask is: “Do I have a good case to win at the... Read More

The first question most clients ask when we are discussing whether it makes sense to file a bid protest is: “What are my chances of winning?” No one wants to file a bid protest unless there is a reasonable chance of winning something out of it. The good news is,... Read More