Government Contracts Monitor

Short Take: Too Much Knowledge Can Be a Disadvantage: Fraudulent Receipt of Confidential Government Information

November 4, 2014

A 54-year old Virginia executive, Mark Farmer, was indicted in October for allegedly providing things of value to the former director of two Ohio Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers.  The alleged quid pro quo was that, in exchange for these items of value, the VA director provided confidential information to Farmer about various VA construction projects.  The charges in the…

Short Take: Changes to Agency Management of Software Licenses on the Horizon

October 28, 2014

Many companies licensing software to federal agencies have been frustrated by their government customers’ apparent inability to effectively manage their licensing efforts. Too often agencies either: (i) buy more licenses that they need and later ask for rebates or concessions because they “didn’t use the software”; or (ii) purchase too few licenses and exceed licensed usage limits, triggering a…

It’s Dangerous to be Late: Understand Your Appeal Rights

October 28, 2014

Last month the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) affirmed that even a defective termination notice starts the 90-day appeals clock, unless the contractor can establish it was actually prejudiced by the defective notice.  In Mansoor International Development, ASBCA No. 58423, September 04, 2014, the ASBCA denied the government’s motion to dismiss  the appeal as untimely,…

Key Personnel: Can you Stand Silent If Your Proposal Is No Longer Accurate?

October 28, 2014

According to a recent decision by the General Accountability Office (GAO) the answer is “No.”  If you submit a proposal with a key personnel requirement, and one or more of your proposed key people are no longer available, your proposal is no longer technically acceptable. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (Booz Allen) just learned this the hard way when Paradigm Technologies (Paradigm) protested,…

Sole Source Awards Continue Unabated – Poor Procurement Planning Prevails

October 21, 2014

Federal law and regulations require our Government to award contracts on a competitive basis, to the maximum extent practical.  Yet more than 30 years ago the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that “32 percent of the sole-source contracts it examined could have been awarded on a competitive basis.”  The problem: ineffective management, including market research and advance…

Short Take: Contracting Officers (Still) Not Monitoring 8(a) Compliance with Subcontracting Limitations

October 21, 2014

A September 16, 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) (GAO-14-706) concluded that contracting officers (COs) are not properly monitoring subcontracting by 8(a) prime contractors to ensure compliance with applicable subcontracting limitations.  Indeed, only two of the COs associated with the 10 contracts GAO reviewed had asked for and reviewed necessary information and made certain that the…

Federal Contracts Just Got More Expensive – The Minimum Wage Hits $10.10

October 21, 2014

On October 10, 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule, raising the minimum wage for employees of covered federal government contractors. The rule implements Executive Order 13658 which was announced by the president in February and published as a proposed rule by the DOL in June. While not all of the thousands of comments led to changes in the final rule, the DOL did address…

The Contractor’s Burden to Establish Responsibility – Do It Early and Do It Right

October 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…

Where You Manufacture and Whether and What You Export Make a Difference: Don’t Claim “Domestic End Product” or Export Defense Articles Without Proper Authority

October 14, 2014

A criminal complaint filed by the United States in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on September 12, 2014, alleges that Alper Calik, a government contractor, knowingly and willfully (i) defrauded the United States Department of Defense (DoD) by claiming that Amphibious Assault Vehicle parts manufactured in Turkey were “domestic end products”, and (ii) exported items…

Short Take: Shell Oil and Motiva Enterprises Pay Nearly $4.5M in Overtime Back Wages for Fair Labor Standards Act Violations

October 14, 2014

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently announced that Shell Oil Co. (Shell) and Motiva Enterprises LLC, which is partially owned by Shell and markets Shell gasoline and other products, have agreed to pay nearly $4.5 Million in overtime back wages to 2,677 current and former chemical and refinery employees.  (DOL Press Rel. No. 14-1645-DAL, dated 09/16/14.)…

Short Take: Department of Defense Proposes Updates to Improve Disclosure of Public Information

October 7, 2014

On September 3, 2014, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a notice of proposed changes to the DoD’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program, 32 C.F.R. Part 286.  The proposed rule seeks to promote uniformity in the program and streamline the process to acquire public records through a FOIA request.  Among other things, the proposed rule would amend the DoD FOIA website to make it…

Ten Things to Remember about Debriefings

October 7, 2014

With the end of the government’s fiscal year comes a rash of contract awards, which means that many contractors are experiencing either “the thrill of victory” or “the agony of defeat”.  Regardless of which side of the award decision you end up on, there are a number of important things to keep in mind about debriefings:

1. They’re Not Just for Disappointed Offerors. When you miss out on an…