By David Warner Last month, a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that a plaintiff adequately alleges “protected activity” under the False Claims Act’s whistleblower protection provision. This provision is where individuals report concerns related to conduct, that could reasonably lead to a viable FCA action. The First Circuit reversed the… Read more »
News & Articles
Federal IT Modernization: Why It’s Important to Government Contractors in 2019
By Barbara S. Kinosky, Esq. There’s a revived focus on the topic and implementation of Information Technology modernization within the federal government in 2019. IT drives innovation and innovation is the most direct route to business success. Innovation in government contracting has the same impact that steam had on the industrial revolution. In fact, it’s hard to… Read more »
Expansion of Buy American Act Requirements are Coming – Including the Addition of Cyber Projects
By Heather Mims, Esq. In general, the Buy American Act (“BAA”) requires the United States government to give a preference to American-made products. When applied to a specific procurement, a contractor must provide an end-product that was manufactured in the United States and must also certify that more than fifty percent of the cost of… Read more »
Protecting a Forgetful Government – “Christian Doctrine” Alive and Well!
By Hon. Jack Delman We have all learned, some of us in school and some of us in the school of “life experience” that parties to a contract are bound by its terms. Not always, if one of the contracting parties is the federal government. We should know that the sovereign reserves certain unique contract… Read more »
Disabled Workers Hit Hard by Shutdown
By Tyler Freiberger, Esq. One month and two days and still 800,000 federal employees are currently working without pay as a result of the “partial” government shutdown. As many employees struggle to afford basic necessities it’s only slight comfort that Congress has already passed the law authorizing back pay when the shutdown ends. While the… Read more »
The Great Migration: GSA Sales Reporting and IFF Transition – 72A to FAS SRP
By Julia Coon, Clause 552.238-74 Industrial Funding Fee and Sales Reporting requires all General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule contractors to report sales within 30 calendar days following the completion of the reporting period and remit the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) within 30 calendar days following the end of each reporting quarter. Over the next twelve… Read more »
OCI and FCA: Two Acronyms You Never Want to See Together…
By William Weisberg, Esq, Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) are a well-known fixture of government contracting. OCI has its own FAR subsection, FAR part 9.5, and figures prominently in several GAO bid protests every year. OCIs can be waived by the Government, and mitigated by contractors, with the Government’s approval. OCIs are situations where a… Read more »
2019 Trend Predictions for the Government Contracting Industry
By Angel N. Davis, Happy New Year and Happy Contracting! As we enter 2019, we have the opportunity to make and commit to several resolutions with the hope of remaining steadfast and following through with at least a few. As an industry, a company and an individual now is the time to set goals for the… Read more »
The Ghosts of Performances Past (Or Lack Of)
By Stephanie Fine, Esq. With the holidays upon us and the new year just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about new solicitations in the pipeline for the next calendar year and your record of past performance. Almost every government proposal requires information on past performance, and it’s inarguably one of the… Read more »
GAO Bid Protest Statistics Are Out And Show Changes To Most Prevalent Grounds For Sustaining Protests
By Heather Mims, Esq. At the end of each fiscal year, the GAO submits its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress. This report details the number of cases received by GAO (which includes protests, cost claims, and requests for reconsideration) and a summary of the overall outcomes of the cases. In FY2018, 2,607 cases were… Read more »
