On January 31, 2017, the White House issued a Press Release announcing President’s determination to continue the effectivity and enforcement of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) 13672, protecting the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) community under federal contracts. The Press Release stated that President “Trump is determined to protect the rights of all…
Reassess Your Size Status, Update Your DSBS and SAM Listings, Check Your Past Performance Ratings, and Update Your Employment Policies, Handbooks and Postings
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2017.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies…
Effective October 21, the Department of Defense (DOD) allows federal contractors to consolidate several Hotline Posters required for contracts exceeding $5.5 million that are not procured as commercial items under FAR part 12. The requirement also flows down to subcontractors. The Final Rule modifies DFARS Clause 252.203-7004 (Display of Hotline Posters). Before the Rule was published, this…
Two years after President Obama signed Executive Order (EO) 13673, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces”, the FAR Council has published the final rule implementing it. The Department of Labor (DOL) has also published the final version of its implementing guidance for the rule. Jackson Kelly initially wrote about the EO’s implementation last year when the DOL published its proposed guidance. The EO has…
Every year, the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) reports to Congress concerning statistics on federal suspension and debarment. The ISDC released 2016’s annual report on June 15. The 10 page release shows that federal agencies completed a total of 918 suspension actions and 1,873 debarments in FY 2015. These figures are somewhat lower than those reported in 2014, when 1,009…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced a settlement with Asbestos Specialists, Inc. (ASI), a Baltimore-based company that specializes in asbestos removal and demolition in the Washington, D.C. area. ASI has agreed to pay $100,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to resolve a charge of national origin harassment filed with the EEOC and a Department of…
Effective April 6, 2016, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has been amended to require reporting in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) to include, to the extent practicable, identification of any immediate owner or subsidiary, and all predecessors of an offeror that held a Federal contract or grant within the last three years.
It’s one thing for a contractor to agree with the importance of compliance in theory, or even to establish a compliance program. But making sure that it actually works is something else entirely. A recently announced civil settlement serves as a reminder that the implementation of your compliance program is at least as important as creating it in the first place. And a key to that implementation…
The Justice Department recently announced that a former agent for a large national trucking company has pled guilty to paying bribes totaling at least $120,000 over a six-year period from 2006-2012 to two officials in the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Traffic Office at the Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) in Albany, Georgia. According to the Press Release, the two DLA officials…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently struck a ringing blow for common-sense, logic and reality in overturning a District Court’s $763,000 damages award in a case involving Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) wage underpayments of only $9,916. United States ex rel. Wall v. Circle C Construction, LLC, 6th Cir. Case No. 14-6150, decided Feb. 4, 2016. The Court flatly rejected what it…
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently announced that a Monterey, California-based translation and interpretation company that does work for the federal government and other clients has agreed to pay $1.47 million in wages and benefits to its nationwide corps of interpreters to resolve federal labor laws violations identified as the result of two separate WHD…
Reassess Your Size Status, Update Your DSBS and SAM Listings, Check Your Past Performance Ratings, and Update Your Employment Policies, Handbooks and Postings
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2016.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most…
