The number of bid protest filings peaks in October as a result of increased government spending at the end of the government’s fiscal year — which is the 12-month period beginning on October 1 and ending on September 30. As such, government contractors should be particularly mindful this time of year of their rights with
While 2020 is (fortunately) in the rearview mirror, issues involving the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are (unfortunately) not going away any time soon. This article provides a brief update on two of the most currently active areas — fraud enforcement actions and PPP appeals — in
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, in Hydraulics International, Inc. v. United States, recently held that the court had jurisdiction over a bid protest challenging an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) award made in connection with a potential future procurement. Key facts and takeaways from this noteworthy and welcome decision — which has the potential
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued a final rule that provides two new methods for small business government contractors to obtain past performance ratings to be used in support of offers on prime contracts with the federal government. The purpose of the rule is to address a common problem faced by small businesses
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued a final rule adopting a 24-month — as opposed to the current 12-month — average to calculate a business’s number of employees for eligibility purposes in all SBA programs that contain employee-based size standards. SBA’s new rule — which takes effect July 6, 2022 — is discussed
In response to industry questions about economic price adjustments for inflation, the Department of Defense (DoD) recently issued Guidance on Inflation and Economic Price Adjustments. Key takeaways from DoD’s guidance — which aims to help contracting officers (COs) “understand whether it is appropriate to recognize cost increases due to inflation under existing contracts as
The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) recently issued its annual report to Congress on federal government suspension and debarment activities for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Key takeaways from the year’s ISDC report are discussed below.
Created by Executive Order 12549, the ISDC is an interagency
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in SEKRI, Inc. v. United States, recently added to the growing body of case law that has declined to extend the scope of the Blue & Gold waiver rule. Under the Blue & Gold rule, “a party who has the opportunity to object to the
More than seven months ago, on September 9, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14042, which imposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on many federal contractors and subcontractors. As we have previously reported, the order intended to use the federal government’s contracting power to increase the number of vaccinated people. Since then, 26 states
As part of the first “comprehensive regulatory review” in nearly 40 years, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed to amend, update, and “modernize” the regulations at 29 CFR parts 1, 3, and 5, which implement the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) and the Davis-Bacon Related Acts (collectively, the DBRA). The background on and an overview of