Buried toward the bottom of President Trump’s Executive Order, titled “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” (the “Order”), is a mandate to identify military programs made more “efficient or lethal if replaced” by unmanned...more
7/1/2025
/ Defense Contracts ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Drones ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Funding ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Secretary of Transportation ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
The Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) is a successful initiative that increases the participation of small business concerns in federally funded research and development. Awards under Phases I and II of the...more
6/10/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Bid Protests ,
Contract Terms ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Funding ,
GAO ,
Government Agencies ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
SBIRs ,
Small Business ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
STTR ,
Technology Sector
The latest part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to undergo a rewrite is FAR Part 10, which addresses market research for acquisitions. The General Services Administration has already adopted the new Part 10 via...more
5/28/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Contract Terms ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Government Agencies ,
Market Research ,
New Guidance ,
New Regulations ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Small Business
At the end of 2024, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) published a plan (“Restoring Freedom’s Forge: American Innovation Unleashed”) and introduced a bill (the Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency in Defense Act or FoRGED...more
4/25/2025
/ Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Supply Chain
The Federal Acquisition Regulation, initially issued on April 1, 1984, appears poised to be rewritten. Several online sources reference a GSA announcement posted on Friday, April 4, that supposedly heralded a bottom-up...more
We continue our discussion of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent final rule on various small business programs. We previously discussed SBA’s changes to the effect of recertifications under multiple award...more
On January 8, 2025, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council withdrew a proposed rule that would have banned federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking or...more
1/10/2025
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
NDAA ,
OFPP ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subcontractors ,
Wage and Hour
We continue our discussion of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) recent final rule on various small business programs. Today, we focus on revisions to the regulations governing size protests and requests for formal...more
1/8/2025
/ Bid Protests ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Deadlines ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
Government Agencies ,
HUBZone ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Protests ,
Recertification ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SBA ,
Set-Asides ,
Small Business
Buried in Section 885 of the current draft of the National Defense Authorization Action (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 is a new attempt to figure out how to make unsuccessful bid protesters pay. As of this posting, the NDAA has...more
Nearly a year ago, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) no later than July 1, 2024, “to...more
On October 25, 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a proposed rule to mandate a Rule of Two analysis for most task and delivery order competitions, except under Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. ...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) has yet again clarified that a company’s size change in connection with a merger-and-acquisition event generally does not prevent the company from...more
Is it finally time to fix the outdated, incomplete, and often misunderstood novation regulations? Maybe. On April 5, 2024, the FAR Council released a Notice and Request for Comments requesting comments from federal...more
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a policy memorandum with a goal of promoting small business participation under multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts (MACs). One of the...more
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued a final rule amending its regulation on lower-tier small business subcontracting credit to account for statutory changes introduced in the National Defense Authorization Act...more
Some of you may recall the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 from nearly a decade ago. It amended the Small Business Act (SBA) to allow a contractor, under certain circumstances, to receive...more
On February 9, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule that would subject all federally funded infrastructure projects to domestic preference requirements that are materially similar to the Buy...more
An interesting new bid protest decision from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims articulates a rule for pre-award key personnel unavailability that is very different from the one employed by the U.S. Government Accountability...more
On March 23, 2021, The House Small Business, Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure held a remote hearing titled: “The Interaction Between the Paycheck Protection Program and Federal Acquisition Regulations: What It...more
4/1/2021
/ Architects ,
CARES Act ,
Contractors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DCAA ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Engineering ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fixed Price ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
SBA
Despite their many differences, Presidents Trump and Biden agree on one thing: that the Government should favor American manufacturers over foreign companies by tightening the protectionist restrictions applicable to many...more
The National Institute for Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) released its draft request for proposals (the “Draft RFP”) for the new $40 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and...more
Earlier this week, the FAR Council issued a proposed rule to implement President Trump’s Executive Order 13881. The Executive Order called for the expansion of the preference for domestic goods, products, and materials –...more
A variety of arcane domestic-preference regimes apply to many Federal procurements – the Buy American Act (BAA), the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), the Berry Amendment, and the Cargo Preference Act, to name a few. In Acetris...more
The President has issued the third in a series of executive orders (EOs) directed at tightening domestic-preference restrictions in Government procurements covered by the Buy American Act (BAA). EO 13881 orders the Federal...more
In the final post of our 2018 Fiscal Year Forecast series, Kevin Mullen and Damien Specht focus on the use of Low Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) contracts, the mounting backlog of security clearance applications, the...more