Government Contracts MonitorDebriefings Get Even Better …. At Least With the Department of DefenseMarch 22, 2022 As most of our readers know, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has long provided a right to a post-award debriefing for both successful and unsuccessful offerors. FAR 15.506(b). On March 18, 2022, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a FINAL RULE: (i) to enhance this post-award debriefing right for competitively awarded contracts, task orders, and delivery orders that exceed $10… Buy American Changes Yet AgainMarch 8, 2022 March 7, 2022, marked the publication of yet another final rule implementing changes to “Buy American” requirements for federal contractors. Final BAA Rule. There are very few surprises in this rule, largely because it closely tracks the proposed rule published last July. That said, the final rule significantly changes FAR Part 25 – the regulations implementing the Buy American Act (BAA). First,… More "Robust" Buy American Changes On The WayAugust 20, 2021 On July 30, 2021, the Biden Administration issued a Proposed Rule touted as “the most robust changes to the implementation of the Buy American Act in almost 70 years.” The stated purpose of the rule is to strengthen domestic content requirements and procurement preferences. This rule is the latest in a series of actions by the Biden Administration to reduce reliance on critical components of… Buy Buy Buy America/American Gets A Boost in a New Executive OrderJanuary 29, 2021 Federal law requires government agencies, when acquiring goods and services, to give preferences to American firms. On January 25, 2021, President Biden, as one of his first acts in office, issued "Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America's Workers", an Executive Order aimed at strengthening current Buy America provisions and goals. Specifically, the Executive Order:… FAR Council Strengthens Buy American RulesJanuary 29, 2021 While all eyes seem to be on President Biden’s January 25, 2021 Executive Order Strengthening Buy American rules and goals, many have overlooked the January 19, 2021 final rule issued by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council that makes significant changes to long-standing rules under the Buy American Act. This rule strengthens domestic preferences under the Buy American statute by… *UPDATED* Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization ActSeptember 28, 2020 Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2019 contains two prohibitions related to Federal contracting: First, as set forth in section 889(a)(1)(A) (Part A), effective August 13, 2019, the US Government (USG) is prohibited from procuring or obtaining, or extending or renewing a contract to procure or obtain, any equipment, system or service that uses telecommunication… West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds State's Right to Work LawApril 21, 2020 On April 21, 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia upheld the constitutionality of West Virginia’s Right to Work law and reversed a circuit court decision that found otherwise. The Court has remanded the case to the circuit court with directions to enter summary judgment in favor of the State of West Virginia. The entire decision can be found here. In 2016, the West Virginia… Prompt Payment Act & Contract Disputes Act Interest Rate Decreased to 2.125%, Effective 1/1/20January 2, 2020 The Treasury Department has announced that the Prompt Payment Act (“PPA”) and Contract Disputes Act (“CDA”) interest rate is decreasing to 2.125% per annum for the first half of 2020 – i.e., January 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020. This interest rate is used to calculate the interest penalty paid by the Government when it fails to timely pay contractors for goods and services, as well as interest… Covered Government Contracts Minimum Wage Increases to $10.80, Effective January 1, 2020October 17, 2019 The Department of Labor (DOL) recently published a Notice [84 Fed. Reg. 49345 (9/19/19)] announcing that, effective January 1, 2020, the minimum hourly wage rate required to be paid to workers performing work on or in connection with covered federal contracts, per Executive Order 13658, will increase from the present $10.60 to $10.80. The minimum hourly tipped wage will increase from $7.40 to… Prompt Payment Act & Contract Disputes Act interest rate decreased to 2.625%, effective 7/1/19July 22, 2019 The Treasury Department has announced that the Prompt Payment Act (“PPA”) interest rate decreased to 2.625% per annum for the last half of 2019 – i.e., July 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019. This interest rate is used to calculate the interest penalty paid by the Government when it fails to timely pay contractors for goods and services, as well as interest due under the Contract Disputes Act… BYE BYE DUNS - HELLO SAMMIMay 1, 2019 Last month the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a $41 million, five-year contract to Ernst and Young LLP (EY) to replace Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) as the contractor supplying entity validation services – the well-known, long-standing Data Universal Number System (DUNS). All federal agencies and federal contractors (and grant recipients) – everyone doing any kind of business with the… SBA Area Offices Are Precluded from Reviewing a Duly-Approved 8(a) Mentor/Protégé Joint Venture Agreement, and May, But Are Not Required to, Refer Any Concerns to SBA’s Office of Business DevelopmentApril 24, 2019 The Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) recently reaffirmed that SBA Area Offices are precluded from reviewing the substance of an 8(a) Mentor-Protégé’s Joint Venture Agreement (JVA), once such agreement has been approved by the servicing SBA District Office. OHA further held that, while an Area Office has the discretion to refer any concerns the Area Office… |
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