By Oles Morrison on November 2, 2016 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
On October 21st the Department of Defense (DoD) proposed an amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) intended to address “a more transparent means of documenting the impact of costs incurred during the undefinitized period of an undefinitized contract action on allowable profit.” (DFARS Case 2015–D024.) In other […]
By Howard W. Roth on October 26, 2016 | Posted in Labor
Starting October 25th many new federal government contract solicitations were to contain the clauses required under the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Final Rule based on the Executive Order put in place by the Obama administration. These clauses would impose significant new compliance and reporting obligations on federal contractors (and […]
By Howard W. Roth on September 12, 2016 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
On September 2, 2016, the Department of Defense (the “DoD”) issued a memorandum entitled “Guidance on Commercial Item Determinations and the Determination of Price Reasonableness for Commercial Items.” This new guidance effectively rescinds prior guidance issued by the DoD in February 2015 regarding commercial item determinations, and to preview guidance […]
By Adam K. Lasky on August 4, 2016 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
In the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Business Development’s most recent report to Congress, SBA’s statistics reflect that approximately 23 percent of companies that complete the 8(a) program either cease to exist, substantially curtail operations, or have no available information within three years of graduation from the program. […]
By Adam K. Lasky on July 28, 2016 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
This week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published its long awaited final rule providing for a major expansion of its mentor-protégé program. These regulations, which represent monumental changes to the federal contracting landscape (for small and large businesses), will go into effect August 24, 2016. In the coming days and weeks we […]
By Oles Morrison on May 26, 2016 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
Recently, the Department of Energy (DOE) released a Federal Register notice proposing an amendment to the DOE Acquisition Regulation (DEAR) to clarify Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 22.12, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts. The proposed amendment explains that FAR Subpart 22.12 shall apply to DOE’s management and operating (M&O) […]
By PaperStreet Web Design on April 27, 2016 | Posted in Bid Protests
The National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) is an annual bill that sets forth the policy and budget priorities for the Department of Defense for an upcoming fiscal year. Striving to achieve bipartisan support, Congress’s task to reach an agreement on the NDAA is a daunting one. Only after months of […]
By Oles Morrison on December 2, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
As many readers may know, in February 2015, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released its proposed rule to establish a mentor-protégé program for all small businesses. Currently available only to participants of the SBA’s 8(a) Program, the SBA’s proposed rule would create a new mentor-protégé program open to all […]
By PaperStreet Web Design on October 7, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
Yesterday, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations to implement Section 1614 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (the “2014 NDAA”). The amendment proposes to expand the credit prime contractors may receive towards their small business subcontracting goals for subcontracts […]
By Adam K. Lasky on January 9, 2015 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
Back in September 2014, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to provide Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (aka space shuttle services) to transport astronauts to/from the International Space Station by 2017. Subsequently, Sierra Nevada, who submitted a proposal but was not awarded a contract, filed a protest at GAO challenging the […]
By Howard W. Roth on December 19, 2014 | Posted in Legislative and Regulatory Developments
On December 12, 2014, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015. The $585 billion bill funds the Pentagon’s activities in FY 2015. Within this massive bill, there are number of items of interest to government contractors, including: Design Build Contracting. Section 814 gives contracting officers more authority to […]
By Oles Morrison on December 17, 2014 | Posted in Labor
On December 9, 2014, the U.S Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) published a final rule implementing Executive Order (EO) 13672 effectively amending EO 11246, which previously only prohibited discrimination by federal contractors and subcontractors on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. […]
By Adam K. Lasky on November 19, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
Today, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its annual report bid protest report to congress. The report shows a sharp decline in the rate of protests sustained by GAO. For several years the “sustain rate” at GAO had consistently hovered between 16% and 19%. Today’s report shows the “sustain […]
By Oles Morrison on | Posted in Labor
As Congress reconvenes it will consider a new bill that would direct federal agencies to give preferential points in the bidding process to federal government contractors based on their labor practices. The bill, proposed by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), would give points to companies that pay their employees a […]
By Oles Morrison on October 28, 2014 | Posted in Labor
This month, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a Final Rule establishing a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for certain federal contractors beginning January 1, 2015. The rule implements Executive Order 13658 signed by President Obama earlier this year. The Final Rule applies to: Procurement contracts for […]