Recently the Federal Trade Commission entered into a settlement under which Patriot LED must pay civil damages of nearly $158,000, plus a penalty of $2.96 million, for its alleged false marketing of lighting products as...more
8/24/2022
/ Buy America ,
Buy American Act ,
Country of Origin ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Advertising ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Goods or Services ,
Made in the USA ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Agreements Act
Following an expedited briefing schedule and hearing, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction staying implementation of the government contractor vaccination...more
12/8/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Statutory Violations ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Breaking news – Following an expedited briefing schedule and hearing, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, in Georgia v. Biden, No. 21-cv-00163, has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction...more
As anticipated in our prior alerts, there have been continuing practical and legal challenges to implementing the Path Out of the Pandemic plan. This alert provides an update on the current status of challenges to OSHA's...more
12/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Stays ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On November 4, 2021, the White House released a fact sheet on the issuance of new OSHA ETS and CMS Rules and also addressed some changes to the previously announced EO 14042 federal contractor vaccination mandate. During last...more
11/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deadlines ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
We have previously reported on implementation issues arising from President Biden’s Path out of the Pandemic plan, which included issuance of Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for...more
11/3/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Essential Workers ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
We have been answering a number of questions from clients regarding the nature and scope of the requirements for COVID vaccination, testing, masking and more. Our previous alert and blogs laid out the administration's Path...more
10/19/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
When an agency makes an award to the incumbent, the disappointed offerors often believe that the incumbent’s performance of the previous contract must have given it an impermissible leg up on the competition in the form of an...more
In a move that has been expected for some time, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced on January 12, 2021 that it will remove all drones (as defined by 49 U.S.C. Ch. 448) from Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)...more
Even when agencies use simplified acquisition procedures, they generally must maximize competition to the extent practicable. There is, however, an exception to this default rule if only one source is reasonably available...more
If the first rule of proposal writing is “give the agency the information it asks for,” the most important corollary is “make the proposal easy to understand.” In other words, clarity and consistency is key; avoid anything in...more
Leo Tolstoy famously began his 1877 novel Anna Karenina with the observation, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Much the same could be said of government contractors that find...more
In the latest development relating to the implementation of Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019, a second interim rule was issued on August 27, 2020. We previously reported on the Federal...more
8/27/2020
/ Comment Period ,
Data Security ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Goods or Services ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
NASA ,
NDAA ,
Public Comment ,
System For Award Management (SAM) ,
Telecommunications
Government contractors have been closely watching developments in the implementation of Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019, which bans government contractors’ use and provision of...more
8/17/2020
/ China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Huawei ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
National Intelligence Agencies ,
NDAA ,
Supply Chain ,
Surveillance ,
Telecommunications
Just as in golf swings, your follow-through in Government Accountability Office (GAO) protests can mean the difference between success and failure. And if you don’t have a solid argument to bolster your protest grounds, you...more
On July 14, 2020, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council issued an interim final rule intended to clarify the scope and application of the requirements set forth in Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the FY2019 National...more
8/3/2020
/ False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Goods or Services ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
NDAA ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Strict Compliance ,
Supply Chain ,
Surveillance ,
Telecommunications
On July 14, 2020, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council issued an interim final rule intended to clarify the scope and application of the requirements set forth in Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the FY2019 National...more
As if more evidence were needed, a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment provides another reminder of the importance of an effective compliance program—and the potential costs to contractors if their program doesn’t...more
Ideally, an agency’s solicitation would provide comprehensive information about its requirements so that interested offerors each had what they needed to craft their best response to the agency’s actual needs. Such a...more
Section 3610 of the CARES Act provides for funding to aid government contractors whose employees or subcontractors “cannot perform work on a site that has been approved by the federal government, including federally-owned or...more
If you’re looking for a single place to find information concerning the federal government’s response to the coronavirus that impacts contractors, the General Services Administration (GSA) recently uploaded a webpage on the...more
Sometimes the most basic rules can be the easiest to forget. One case in point relates to the key role of competitive prejudice in successful protests. No matter how often contractors hear it, this reality bears repeating,...more
3/6/2020
/ Bid Protests ,
Competition ,
Competitive Bidding ,
Diminution in Value ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Leases ,
Office Space ,
Unfair Prejudice ,
Value Statements
Contractors whose protests result in the challenged agency’s taking corrective action may attempt to recover their protest costs, particularly when they feel that the corrective action was unduly delayed....more
2/28/2020
/ Bid Protests ,
Bid Solicitation ,
Competitive Bidding ,
Corrective Actions ,
Cost Recovery ,
Delays ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
FBI ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reimbursements ,
Service Contracts ,
Small Business
When an agency announces its intent to take corrective action in response to a protest, it’s easy for the protester to feel that it has “won”—and to some extent it has. At the very least, its protest has prompted the agency...more
Given how much emphasis federal procurement law properly places on fairness, it can be easy to assume that government buyers must do everything necessary to ensure a fair procurement....more