Government Contracts MonitorContracting Rules and RegulationsThe Contractor’s Burden to Establish Responsibility – Do It Early and Do It RightOctober 14, 2014 A pre-award protest filed by Bailey Tool & Manufacturing Company (BTM) in the Court of Federal Claims – challenging BTM’s elimination from the competition as “nonresponsible” because its financial resources were found inadequate to perform the contract – did not succeed. Why? The burden was on BTM to prove it was responsible and it simply waited too long to make the required showing… Include Original Bid Guarantees with Your Bid or be ExcludedSeptember 23, 2014 In the recent case of Hamilton Pacific Chamberlain, LLC, B-409795 (August 11, 2014), interesting facts concerning a bid guarantee resulted in a robust analysis by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). But in the end the GAO reiterated a long-standing rule: Where an invitation for bids (IFB) requires submission of a bid guarantee, a bidder’s failure to submit an original bid… Short Take: Should the Government Collect all this Cost and Pricing Data?September 16, 2014 The Truth in Negotiations Act requires the Government to obtain certified cost or pricing data under certain circumstances. Although contractors may request an exemption from this requirement, exemptions are only available under certain limited conditions and even then other information must be provided instead. The requirement for certified cost and pricing data has resulted in over… Department of Defense’s Confession: Declining CompetitionSeptember 16, 2014 The Under Secretary of the Department of Defense recently issued a memorandum admitting what many of us have long suspected: “Over the past four years, the Department has not met its competition goals. In fact, we have experienced a declining competition rate, and we must take action to reverse this trend.” acq.osd.mil/USA004313-14-ATL. The memo leads by recognizing that “[c]ompetition is… Agency Cannot Ignore Solicitation’s Labor Rate Realism Analysis Requirement, Even in a Fixed Price ContractAugust 25, 2014 A recently-released GAO decision demonstrates the importance of paying attention to a solicitation’s wording in deciding whether to challenge a competitor’s labor rates as being too low. In Iron Vine Security, LLC, B-409015, decided January 22, 2014, the highly-ranked Iron Vine attacked the agency’s failure to evaluate the realism of the much lower-priced awardee’s proposed fixed labor… Short Take: OFCCP Proposes New Equal Pay Report RegulationsAugust 12, 2014 On August 8, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published new proposed regulations in the Federal Register to amend and supplement existing 41 C.F.R. § 60-1.7. 79 FR 46561. The proposed regulations will require contractors and subcontractors with more than 100 employees and contracts or subcontracts valued at more than $50,000 over a performance… Short Takes: Is Uniform Use of Line Items in Our Future?August 7, 2014 The DoD, GSA, and NASA recently issued a proposed rule to amend the FAR to establish a uniform line item identification structure for the federal procurement system. The structure is designed to improve the accuracy, traceability, and usability of procurement data throughout the entire federal procurement system. Currently such data is limited to contract-level information in… Proposed Rule Would Modify DFARS Business Systems Compliance RequirementsJuly 30, 2014 Contractor business systems and internal controls can be understood as “the first line of defense against waste, fraud and abuse.” In an attempt to strength those protections, the Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a proposed rule modifying business system compliance requirements. If adopted, the proposed rule would require covered contractors to demonstrate their compliance… Flow Down of Specialty Metals Requirements – Let’s Be ClearJuly 22, 2014 DoD proposes to amend the flow down requirements of DFARS Clause 252.225–7009 entitled ‘‘Restriction on Acquisition of Certain Articles Containing Specialty Metals” to clearly limit a contractor’s ability to modify the language of the clause in the flowdown to subcontractors. This clause is used in DoD contracts that require the delivery of aircraft, missile or space systems, ships, tank or… Short Takes: DOD Amends ASBCA RulesJuly 21, 2014 In March, we reported here on DOD’s proposed rule to amend the rules of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA). DOD received comments from two respondents and issued its final rule effective July 21, 2014. DOD found most of the respondents’ proposed changes to be unnecessary, and thus the final rule is nearly identical to the proposed rule. Thus, the final rule, like the… Short Takes: It’s Final! No Caps on WOSB Contract Set-AsidesJuly 1, 2014 We previously reported on the FAR interim rule that eliminated dollar caps on the anticipated award price of contracts to Economically-Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (“EDWOSB”) and Women-Owned Small Businesses (“WOSB”). On June 24, 2014, this interim rule was adopted as final, without change. The FAR council received no comments on the interim rule during the… GAO Issues New Report on Government-Wide Suspensions and DebarmentsJune 23, 2014 A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that the number of suspensions and debarment actions government-wide is up more than 162% over the past five years. The increase is even greater – a stunning 1,326% -- for six agencies previously criticized by GAO: Commerce, HHS, DOJ, State, Treasury and FEMA. These agencies began to… |
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