By William Weisberg, Esq, Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) are a well-known fixture of government contracting. OCI has its own FAR subsection, FAR part 9.5, and figures prominently in several GAO bid protests every year. OCIs can be waived by the Government, and mitigated by contractors, with the Government’s approval. OCIs are situations where a… Read more »
By Angel N. Davis, Happy New Year and Happy Contracting! As we enter 2019, we have the opportunity to make and commit to several resolutions with the hope of remaining steadfast and following through with at least a few. As an industry, a company and an individual now is the time to set goals for the… Read more »
By Stephanie Fine, Esq. With the holidays upon us and the new year just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about new solicitations in the pipeline for the next calendar year and your record of past performance. Almost every government proposal requires information on past performance, and it’s inarguably one of the… Read more »
At the end of each fiscal year, the GAO submits its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress. This report details the number of cases received by GAO (which includes protests, cost claims, and requests for reconsideration) and a summary of the overall outcomes of the cases. In FY2018, 2,607 cases were filed at the GAO,… Read more »
Last week the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding an agency determination that certain lands were a “critical habitat” for the endangered dusky gopher frog and could not be developed. While some contemporaneous accounts of the oral arguments anticipated a likely split along ideological… Read more »
By Maureen Jamieson On November 27, 2018, GSA announced they will be consolidating their 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) into one single Schedule for both products and services. The consolidated schedule will come with one set of terms and conditions. According to GSA, the reason for the consolidation is to make it easier and more… Read more »
By Wayne Simpson, CFCM, CSCM In 2017 when the new administration entered office, and with both houses of Congress controlled by the same party in the 115th Congress, the Congressional Review Act of 1996 was used dozens of times in the first session of the 115th Congress to rescind Executive Orders, regulations, rules and policies… Read more »
By Tyler Freiberger, While attitudes about Marijuana and state laws controlling the drug continue to shift toward recreational use, the common advice has been that most employers may still terminate employees for even medical use of the drug unless restricted in particular states. In fact, typically the rule has been that if you are a… Read more »
By Jack Delman, Esq. We promised to keep you updated on the Federal Circuit’s disposition of a case addressing the collide between the Veterans Benefits, Health Care and Information Technology Act of 2006 (VBA) and the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act (JWOD) in procurements at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Each statute provides valuable award preferences to… Read more »
By William Weisberg, Every year, the swallows return to Capistrano, the leaves change (at least here in Northern Virginia), and something comes along to revolutionize federal procurement. LPTA procurements. Data rights clauses. FAR part 13. Fixed-price development contracts (if you are old enough to remember those pre-FAR days). And now…” Other Transaction Authority” (“OTA”). Avoid all… Read more »
