February 24, 2019
On January 31, 2019 President Trump signed yet another Executive Order addressing Buy American issues: Buy American, Hire American [here]. This Order requires that federal agencies purchase U.S. goods and services in any and all infrastructure projects including, interestingly, cybersecurity projects. Among other things, this recent Order underscores the Trump Administration’s policy of enforcing…
January 17, 2019
In December 2018 – just before Christmas – the Senate approved, and the President signed into law, the so-called “Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018,” Pub. L. No. 115-324 (the “Act” or “statute”). This statute extends the three-year reference period for calculating a revenue-based small business’s size status to five years. This Act was intended – as implied by its name – to extend the…
January 2, 2019
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is the time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2019.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change and…
January 3, 2018
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 the time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2018.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies…
January 16, 2017
Most federal civil monetary penalties will increase by an additional 1.636%, rounded to the nearest dollar, for new assessments issued after the effective date of each respective agency’s implementing regulations. This new increase is on top of last year’s huge, one-time, “catch-up” adjustments intended to offset inflation through October 2015, and is the first of what hereafter will be annual…
January 3, 2017
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…
November 29, 2016
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had reached a settlement with Bechtel National Inc., Bechtel Corp., URS Corp. (predecessor in interest to AECOM Global II LLC) and URS Energy and Construction Inc. (now known as AECOM Energy and Construction Inc.). In the press release, DOJ announced that the contractors have agreed to pay $125 million to resolve allegations under the…
July 5, 2016
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued an interim final rule increasing the range of penalties for violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §3729 et seq. (FCA). In accordance with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, DOJ has adjusted for inflation the civil monetary penalties assesssed or enforced by DOJ components.
As a result, the penalty range for FCA violations has changed from…
April 3, 2016
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…
February 16, 2016
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…
November 30, 2015
Last week Granite Construction, Inc. (Granite), a publically traded company, entered into a non-prosecution agreement under which it will pay more than $8 million to the federal government and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The agreement resolves a criminal investigation into a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) fraud scheme perpetrated by Granite’s wholly-owned…
November 24, 2015
The Department of Justice just announced that it has intervened in a lawsuit in which it is alleged that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries (Inchcape) violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy for ship husbanding services from 2005 to 2014. The lawsuit was brought under the whistleblower provisions of the FCA by former…
February 24, 2019
On January 31, 2019 President Trump signed yet another Executive Order addressing Buy American issues: Buy American, Hire American [here]. This Order requires that federal agencies purchase U.S. goods and services in any and all infrastructure projects including, interestingly, cybersecurity projects. Among other things, this recent Order underscores the Trump Administration’s policy of enforcing…
January 17, 2019
In December 2018 – just before Christmas – the Senate approved, and the President signed into law, the so-called “Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018,” Pub. L. No. 115-324 (the “Act” or “statute”). This statute extends the three-year reference period for calculating a revenue-based small business’s size status to five years. This Act was intended – as implied by its name – to extend the…
January 2, 2019
Happy New Year! The start of a new year is the time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2019.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies operate on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes. For such companies the start of a new tax year, and the end of the prior year, means a change and…
January 3, 2018
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 the time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here are several we strongly urge you to follow-through on early in 2018.
1. Reassess Your (and Any Subcontractors’) Small Business Size Status: Most companies…
January 16, 2017
Most federal civil monetary penalties will increase by an additional 1.636%, rounded to the nearest dollar, for new assessments issued after the effective date of each respective agency’s implementing regulations. This new increase is on top of last year’s huge, one-time, “catch-up” adjustments intended to offset inflation through October 2015, and is the first of what hereafter will be annual…
January 3, 2017
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…
November 29, 2016
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had reached a settlement with Bechtel National Inc., Bechtel Corp., URS Corp. (predecessor in interest to AECOM Global II LLC) and URS Energy and Construction Inc. (now known as AECOM Energy and Construction Inc.). In the press release, DOJ announced that the contractors have agreed to pay $125 million to resolve allegations under the…
July 5, 2016
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued an interim final rule increasing the range of penalties for violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §3729 et seq. (FCA). In accordance with the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, DOJ has adjusted for inflation the civil monetary penalties assesssed or enforced by DOJ components.
As a result, the penalty range for FCA violations has changed from…
April 3, 2016
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…
February 16, 2016
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…
November 30, 2015
Last week Granite Construction, Inc. (Granite), a publically traded company, entered into a non-prosecution agreement under which it will pay more than $8 million to the federal government and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The agreement resolves a criminal investigation into a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) fraud scheme perpetrated by Granite’s wholly-owned…
November 24, 2015
The Department of Justice just announced that it has intervened in a lawsuit in which it is alleged that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries (Inchcape) violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly overbilling the U.S. Navy for ship husbanding services from 2005 to 2014. The lawsuit was brought under the whistleblower provisions of the FCA by former…
