Between April 9 and April 16, President Trump issued three executive orders (EOs) calling for reforms to the federal procurement system. The April 9 EO, “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense...more
On February 18, 2025, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued a Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) class deviation—CD-2025-041—to implement several Executive Orders (E.O.) relating to Diversity, Equity, and...more
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” revoking EOs from previous administrations that promoted diversity, equity and...more
1/24/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Grants ,
OMB
On June 2, 2023, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council issued an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the No TikTok on Government...more
Following President Biden’s State of the Union address highlighting increased enforcement of Buy America requirements for federally funded infrastructure projects and new standards for construction materials, the White House...more
On December 27, 2022, President Biden signed the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act (P.L. 117-324 or the “Act”). The law aims to tighten regulations on potential organization conflicts...more
On December 23, 2022, President Biden signed the James N. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA) into law. The statute prohibits federal agencies from purchasing covered semiconductor products...more
On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) previewing significant changes to its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.1 The...more
Key Points -
The recent announcements around federal contractor requirements for mandatory vaccination and the upcoming OSHA Emergent Temporary Standard have created significant confusion for employers.
It’s important...more
10/1/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
- Akin Gump is hosting a Webinar tomorrow, August 6, 2020, at 12:00 p.m. (EST) to discuss Section 889, the implementing regulations, and the grant and loan restrictions also effective August 13, 2020.
- On July 14, 2020,...more
8/5/2020
/ Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
NASA ,
NDAA ,
Prime Contractor ,
Public Comment ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Subcontractors ,
Supply Chain ,
Surveillance ,
Telecommunications
A. Introduction and Key Take-Aways -
The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program provides a metric for independent third parties to use in assessing and certifying the...more
6/4/2020
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Defense Costs ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Subcontractors ,
Supply Chain
Key Points
- On January 22, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed changes to its grants and agreements regulations (2 CFR Part 200) to implement § 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)...more
1/28/2020
/ China ,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) ,
Comment Period ,
Cooperative Agreements ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Huawei ,
NDAA ,
OMB ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Telecommunications
Key Points
- Congress has passed the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019 (“Fair Chance Act”) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which was enacted on December 17, 2019. This federal...more
1/23/2020
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
New Legislation
• On August 7, the DOD, GSA, and NASA released a prepublication version of an Interim Final Rule implementing paragraph (a)(1)(A) of § 889 of the 2019 NDAA. The rule is effective next Tuesday, August 13, 2019.
• Among its...more
8/12/2019
/ CFIUS ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
FIRRMA ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
NASA ,
NDAA ,
New Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Surveillance ,
Telecommunications
• On January 31, 2019, President Trump signed an executive order that directs federal departments and agencies to take steps to encourage recipients of federal financial assistance for a broad range of infrastructure projects...more
• A potential offeror may have jurisdiction to protest a government insourcing decision at the Court of Federal Claims.
• This issue will likely need to be resolved by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
...more
• First, an awardee is responsible for keeping tabs on what happens in a protest of its award, or it may not be able to submit its own challenge if the protest is sustained.
• Second, mere compliance with cybersecurity...more
11/9/2017
/ Bid Protests ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Framework ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
NIST ,
Risk Management ,
Standing
The Proposed Rule creates a procedure for DoD to release unclassified technical data subject to EAR and ITAR to “qualified contractors,” which are defined to mean qualified U.S. and Canadian contractors. The Proposed Rule...more
Key points -
- A federal district court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the labor law disclosure requirements and restrictions on certain predispute arbitration agreements under...more
10/27/2016
/ Blacklist ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Pay Transparency ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
Key Points -
- The U.S. Department of Labor issued final rules implementing Executive Order 13706 requiring federal contractors to provide up to seven days of annual paid sick leave, including leave for family care...more
Key Points -
- While making some welcomed changes to the proposed rule, the final rule leaves many of the significant burdens and costs associated with requiring contractors and subcontractors to disclose various...more
On June 16, 2016, Justice Thomas, writing for a unanimous Court in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar,examined the circumstances under which an “implied false certification” can trigger liability...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a constitutional challenge to the ban on U.S. government contractors making political contributions to candidates for federal office and federal political party...more
On January 29, 2015, the Department of Defense (DOD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) published the final anti-human trafficking rule amending the current...more
2/2/2015
/ Amended Legislation ,
DFARS ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Rules ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Human Trafficking ,
Manufacturers ,
NASA ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Subcontractors ,
Supply Chain
On April 8, 2014, President Obama signed an executive order to “promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government Procurement[.]” The Executive Order, “Non-Retaliation for Disclosure of Compensation Information[,]”amends...more