Organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) are perpetually thorny issues in federal procurement that contracting officers are required to identify and evaluate “as early in the acquisition process as possible.”[1] Although the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified several OCI categories,[2] two recent decisions highlight so-called impaired objectivity OCIs, which arise when a contractor’s ability to … Continue Reading
In a proposed rule issued earlier this month, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) seeks to incorporate into the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (“DFARS”) restrictions on the use of the lowest price technically acceptable (“LPTA”) source selection method from the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018. This proposed rule makes … Continue Reading
A recently proposed rule would update the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) to incorporate statutory changes to limitations on subcontracting that have been in effect since 2013. The U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has long since revised its own regulations to implement these changes, but some contracting officers have been reluctant to follow these changes in … Continue Reading
The Department of Defense (“DoD”) has proposed a new rule limiting the use of “brand name or equal” contract competitions, calling on contracting officers to publicly justify their need for a brand name-type product before issuing a solicitation. The rule would implement Section 888(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017, which directed the … Continue Reading
Pursuant to Sections 817 and 881(b) of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), the Department of Defense (“DoD”) recently issued a proposed rule to amend certain sourcing restrictions found in DFARS subpart 225.70 and related clauses. Specifically the proposed rule would amend the DFARS to: extend the Berry Amendment’s domestic sourcing restrictions to … Continue Reading
[This article was originally published in Law360 and has been modified for the blog.] Over the summer, pursuant to Section 874 of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”)[1], the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a proposed rule[2] to exclude the application of certain laws and regulations to the acquisition of commercial items, including … Continue Reading
On July 25, the GSA’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published a report summarizing its audit of the GSA Transactional Data Reporting (“TDR”) pilot program. That ongoing pilot program, which we have covered previously and have been tracking since the beginning, allows participating Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”) contract-holders to report government-sales data each month, in … Continue Reading
[Updated August 13, 2018] If an agreement qualifies as a “subcontract” under a government contract, then it may be subject to certain flow-down, compliance, and reporting requirements. These requirements are intended to protect the government’s interests, and have significant ramifications for contractors, e.g., increasing transaction costs, expanding potential areas of exposure. These compliance obligations and … Continue Reading
[A modified version of this blog post was published in Law360.] Last month, Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced legislation to “improve the requirement to purchase domestic commodities or products” under the National School Lunch Program (the “NSLP”) and the School Breakfast Program (the “SPB”). Even if this legislation fails to make … Continue Reading
In a new rule announced yesterday, the FAR Council implemented prior statutory changes to GAO’s bid protest jurisdiction. For task orders issued by the Department of Defense, NASA, or the Coast Guard, the rule provides that GAO will have jurisdiction only over task orders “valued in excess of $25 million.”… Continue Reading
Recent news reports have raised a substantial question about who has authority to run the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) in the wake of Dr. David Shulkin’s departure from the agency. According to the White House, Dr. Shulkin resigned. Meanwhile, Dr. Shulkin himself has publicly insisted that he did not resign and was instead fired. … Continue Reading
Few issues have bedeviled the GSA Schedules program as much as the provision of incidental supplies and services under Schedule orders. For years, it has been unclear how such supplies and services are to be purchased and priced, since they are not themselves on Schedule. But now, with GSA’s new Order-Level Materials (“OLM”) rule, GSA … Continue Reading
On January 31, 2018, the Department of Defense (“DoD” or the “Department”) published a final rule regarding commercial item purchasing requirements. Among other key amendments, the final rule modifies the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) by: (i) formalizing a presumption of commerciality for items that DoD previously treated as commercial; (ii) providing commercial item … Continue Reading
On January 9, 2018, Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued Class Deviation 2018-O0009, designed to reduce barriers to entry for innovative entities through streamlining the awards process for research and development contracts. This Class Deviation allows for the use of simplified acquisition procedures and excuses certain procurement obligations when DoD awards contracts and subcontracts valued at … Continue Reading
Federal contractors may be subject to a slate of new regulations in 2018, including rules that increase cyber reporting burdens, expand small business competition, and change the procedures for competitively awarding IDIQ contracts. Among the proposed rules, announced in the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda of the FAR Council and the General Services Administration (“GSA”), are changes … Continue Reading
Over the last few months, various Senate Democrats have pushed to strengthen “Buy American” requirements applicable to Federal Government procurements. This month is no different. On December 6, 2017, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) reintroduced the 21st Century Buy American Act (S.2196), which aims to “strengthen existing Buy American standards to ensure that the U.S. government … Continue Reading
The Department of Defense (“DoD”) has updated portions of its internal guidance addressing compliance with the requirements of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) 252.204-7012, “Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting.”… Continue Reading
As we reported late last month, one-third of the Senate Democratic caucus doubled down on efforts to keep “Buy American” protections intact for certain defense items. Now Senate Democrats are declaring a “Buy American” victory as the FY 2018 NDAA conference report revealed that some of these protections will remain.… Continue Reading
As we reported last month, four Senate Democrats published an article about “strengthen[ing]” the U.S. Government’s “Buy American policies” through certain proposed amendments to the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”). Although most of the proposed “Buy American” amendments were left out of the version of the bill that was sent to conference, 16 Senate Democrats … Continue Reading
On September 14, 2017, the Department of Defense issued a new class deviation that eliminates the requirement on major contractors to engage with the Government in technical interchange meeting prior to the generation of independent research and development (IR&D) costs. This class deviation represents a continuing reversal in position for the Pentagon, which had been … Continue Reading
Last week a group of four Senate Democrats – led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) – jointly published an article about “strengthen[ing]” the U.S. Government’s “Buy American policies.” While the senators acknowledged President Trump’s recent efforts to “re-examine the use of . . . Buy American waivers” (see our blog post regarding the “Buy … Continue Reading
On August 1, 2017, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation (fact sheet) that would establish minimum cybersecurity standards for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices sold to the U.S. Government. As Internet-connected devices become increasingly ubiquitous and susceptible to evolving and complex cyber threats, the proposed bill attempts to safeguard the security of executive agencies’ … Continue Reading
[This article was originally published in Law360.] On July 21, 2017 – and during “Made in America Week” – President Trump issued Executive Order 13806 on “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States” (the “Manufacturing EO”). The Manufacturing EO sets forth a policy stressing the … Continue Reading
In its Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, the Senate Armed Services Committee (the “Committee”) included an “Item of Special Interest” directing the DoD to exercise its rights under the Bayh-Dole Act “to authorize third parties to use inventions that benefited from DOD funding whenever the price of a drug, … Continue Reading
