The General Services Administration (GSA) is scheduled to expand a 2016 rule this November, but faces significant opposition from within its own agency due to questionable data from a pilot program. On June 23, 2016, GSA published a final rule requiring contractors to report transactional data for both products and services provided under Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts. The rule sought to collect the data necessary to allow the government to make smarter buying decisions, promote industry-wide competitiveness, and reveal buying patterns, but also to reduce the administrative and transactional burden on government contractors, eliminating barriers to entry – especially for small businesses – as it eliminated Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) and Price Reduction Clause (PRC) reporting.

Continue Reading GSA’s Transactional Data Reporting Rule Set to Expand Amid OIG Worries

I recently authored an article for Connector, the official magazine of the Steel Erectors Association of America, outlining the types of government contracts and workers impacted by Executive Order 14026 (EO 14026) that increased the minimum hourly wage for certain federal contractors from $10.50 to $15.00. This increase went into effect on January 30, 2022 and is intended to promote “the government’s procurement interests in economy and efficiency by contracting with sources that ‘adequately’ compensate their workers.”

Continue Reading Impact of Increased Minimum Wage Requirement for Federal Contractors

I recently provided insight for an article in Law360 on the announcement by the Biden administration to suspend the enforcement of the government contractor vaccine mandate. In August, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government contracts but limited the scope of that nationwide injunction to just the plaintiffs. There are currently five other pending challenges to the mandate in different jurisdictions.

Continue Reading Suspension of Government Contractor Vaccine Mandate Enforcement

On September 9, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule to clarify how American industry can participate in international standards-setting activities when interacting with entities on the Entity List.

Continue Reading With New Rule, BIS Seeks to Ensure Fuller American Participation in Standards-Setting Discussions

After we published a post about the Eleventh Circuit’s decision to narrow the scope of the nationwide preliminary injunction of the government contractor vaccine mandate, the government announced that, for the time being, it will not enforce the mandate.  The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force added the following statement to its website:

Regarding Applicable Court Orders and Injunctions: To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce Executive Order 14042. For existing contracts or contract-like instruments (hereinafter “contracts”) that contain a clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, the Government will take no action to enforce the clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, absent further written notice from the agency.

Continue Reading Government to Withhold Enforcement of the Vaccine Mandate. For Now.

I recently authored an article for Law360 offering perspective on a proposed rule announced by the Small Business Administration (SBA) on July 6. The new rule will establish a government-wide certification process for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) to be eligible for the federal contract set-aside programs, which were established in a 2004 executive order by President George W. Bush to increase participation of these groups in government contracting.

Continue Reading Challenges of New SBA Proposal for Veteran-Owned Small Business Government Contractors

I recently authored an article for Law360 providing insight on a recent appellate ruling related to violations of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), along with takeaways from the case and next steps from the U.S. Department of Commerce to address related compliance issues.

Continue Reading Key Takeaways from Recent ECRA Compliance Case

On Friday, August 26, the Eleventh Circuit published the long-awaited decision in the government’s appeal of a nationwide injunction halting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government contractors and subcontractors. Although the decision found that the plaintiffs were entitled to an injunction, the Eleventh Circuit also found that the Southern District of Georgia’s injunction, which applied nationwide, was overly broad. The court narrowed the injunction to apply only to the plaintiffs, stating that they need not comply with the vaccine mandate in their capacity as contractors or incorporate it in lower-tier subcontracts. The appellate court left the prohibition against federal agencies considering compliance with the mandate in proposal evaluations, but only to the extent a plaintiff submitted a bid.

Continue Reading The Contractor Vaccine Mandate is Back?

Today, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule adding seven Chinese entities to the Entity List. The U.S. government determined these seven entities, primarily supporting the Chinese aerospace and space industries, had acted “contrary to national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.” BIS stated that the entities were acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items to support China’s military modernization campaign. These seven entities bring the total number of listed Chinese entities to approximately 600.

Continue Reading Commerce Targets Chinese Military-Civil Fusion Program as Seven Chinese Entities Added to the Entity List

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) Mentor-Protégé program (MPP) was designed to strengthen the capabilities of small businesses, increase their participation in the DOD contract pool, and contribute to “the diversity and vitality of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB).” Like the Small Business Administration’s MPP, the program pairs small businesses with larger contractors to develop mutually beneficial relationships. Established on November 5, 1990, the DOD’s MPP has been consistently reauthorized over the last 30 years, but only as a pilot. That could quickly change, as new recommendations from the Defense Business Board (DBB) seek to bring permanency and increase participation, understanding, and oversight.

Continue Reading DOD’s Mentor-Protégé Program May Be Getting a Facelift

From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network
From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network

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