Government Contracts Monitor

Short Take: Federal Court Enjoins Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Reporting Requirements

November 1, 2016

Jackson Kelly previously reported on a lawsuit challenging the new reporting scheme mandated by federal contractors under Executive Order (EO) 13673, Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces. Filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the suit sought to enjoin the US Government from enforcing the EO’s widely-criticized and extensive reporting requirements. 

Last week, the Court ordered…

Short Take: FAR Council Issues Final Rule on Contract Restrictions Based on Felony Convictions and Delinquent Taxes

October 24, 2016

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council recently adopted its previously proposed restrictions on federal agencies’ ability to enter into contracts with corporations having a delinquent federal tax liability or a felony conviction under any federal law. The final rule, which took effect on September 30, 2016, establishes an outright prohibition against contracts where either of these…

Federal Lawsuit Challenges Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Reporting Requirements

October 18, 2016

The Final Rule implementing Executive Order 13673, Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces, is due to take effect on October 25.  Jackson Kelly has previously written about the new rule, and many federal contractors are struggling to understand which provisions apply to them and when they will take effect.  The reporting requirements mandated by the rule are set to phase in over a two year period and will…

DoD Issues Final Rule on Cyber Incident Reporting for Contractors

October 18, 2016

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently issued its Final Rule outlining the mandatory cyber incident reporting requirements for DoD contractors and subcontractors, as well as other members of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) (entities with grants, cooperative agreements, other transaction agreements, technology investment agreements, and any other type of legal instrument or agreement) doing…

Short Take: GSA Releases Audit Report of its Purchase Card Program

October 11, 2016

The General Services Administration (GSA) performed a routine annual audit of its Government Purchase Card (GPC) program, analyzing transactions from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15). Under the GPC program, cardholders procured $27.5 million worth of goods and services for GSA in FY15, down nearly 8 percent from the previous year’s use. Overall card use has decreased every year since 2011, when GSA card…

Short Take: Cybersecurity Assistance for Small Businesses May Be on the Horizon

October 4, 2016

Although the threat often goes unnoted in stories about high-profile breaches of big businesses and government entities, the impact of a cyber incident on small businesses is potentially overwhelming. A recent report from Kaspersky Labs concluded that the average cost of a cybersecurity incident incurred by small and medium businesses is $86,500. Many small businesses confronted with such costs…

Short Take: Federal Minimum Wage for Contractors Increasing to $10.20 in 2017

September 27, 2016

On September 19, 2016, the Department of Labor (DoL) released guidance on the impending increase in the minimum wage for contractors performing work covered by Executive Order (EO) 13658.  The EO was signed in 2014 and raised the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour as of January 1, 2015. It also established a procedure for determining the amount of annual minimum wage increases for each year going…

Short Take: Uncertainty Remains Over 2017 NDAA

September 13, 2016

As Congress returned to session last week, the only certainty with regard to the 2017 Defense budget is more uncertainty. A third attempt to vote on the Senate’s version of the bill was blocked last week by filibuster, despite the bill’s passing the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee several months ago.  The House has passed its own version of the NDAA, but even if the Senate is able to…

DOD Issues New Guidance on Commercial Item Determinations

September 13, 2016

On September 2, 2016, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) Director, Claire M. Grady, issued a guidance memo concerning commercial item determinations and the determination of price reasonableness for commercial items. The memo begins by noting the proposed rule issued August 11, 2016 under DFARS Case 2016-D006 implementing Sections 851-853 and 855-857 of the FY 2016 National Defense…

ABA Public Contact Section Elects New Council Members

September 6, 2016

At the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting last month in San Francisco, the Section of Public Contract Law elected four new members to three-year terms on its governing Council. The new members include: Eric Whytsell of Jackson Kelly PLLC; Judge Marian Blank Horn of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims; Bryant Snee, Deputy Director – Commercial Litigation, U.S. Department of Justice; and Marine…

FAR Council and DOL Publish Final Rule and Guidance on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces

September 6, 2016

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…

Short Take: GSA Expands Cybersecurity Opportunities under Schedule 70

August 30, 2016

The General Services Administration (GSA), a central procurement source available for all federal agencies, has released a draft solicitation for four new Special Item Numbers (SINs) for Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services (HACS). The new HACS SINs will be available under GSA’s Schedule 70 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract, which covers IT services. Federal agencies can…