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The landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) is a once-in-a-generation initiative to address aging U.S. infrastructure needs and equalize greater access to public resources. While the Administration continues to move with impressive speed in creating the administrative channels and oversight offices necessary to implement the billions of dollars that have been appropriated for this impressive undertaking, recipient agencies have had more difficulty in evaluating and implementing the requirements of the BIL, including the domestic sourcing preferences ...

Yesterday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022. GAO’s annual report is required under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (“CICA”) and provides the government contracting community with good insight into GAO’s bid protest function. [1]

Despite being just four pages (excluding GAO’s letter regarding one instance in which an agency did not follow GAO’s recommendation), [2] GAO’s report is highly informative because it showcases key bid protest statistics and ...

On October 26, 2022, John M. Tenaglia, Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting, issued Class Deviation 2023-O0001 to direct contracting officers to use alternate procedures to verify small business joint venture offeror eligibility instead of using the System for Award Management ("SAM"). The Class Deviation takes effect on October 28, 2022 and remains in effect until rescinded.

Under the Class Deviation, DoD contracting officers are required to include the following statement in solicitations:

• “A small business joint venture offeror must submit, with its ...

Numerous changes to the Buy American Act (“BAA”) have been proposed and implemented in recent years, with another one coming this week. Beginning tomorrow, on October 25, 2022, the domestic content requirement for components in non-ferrous manufactured end products and construction materials will increase from 55% to 60%. This increase will be the first of three phased increases for such products implemented under the Biden Administration.

As a brief recap, the BAA is a domestic preference statute that encourages federal agencies to procure manufactured end products or ...

On June 16, 2022, the Department of Defense ("DoD") issued a memorandum on cybersecurity compliance, Contractual Remedies to Ensure Contractor Compliance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Clause 252.204-7012, for contracts and orders not subject to Clause 252.204-7020; and Additional Considerations Regarding National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171 Department of Defense Assessments. The memo is important for defense contractors because it reminds procuring officials of alternative remedies and tools that are ...

Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration ("SBA") published a final rule that changes the lookback period for employee-based size standards from 12 months to 24 months. The final rule takes effect on July 6, 2022 and is welcome news for contractors that operate under North American Industry Classification Systems ("NAICS") codes with employee-based size standards.

Specifically, the final rule implements section 863 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116-283 ("2021 NDAA”), which amended portions of the Small Business Act to change ...

Recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report on the continuing challenges and opportunities for the Department of Defense (“DOD”) in space acquisitions. GAO’s report, which was timely published during the 37th Annual Space Symposium, reflects the current rise of space systems in military and national security operations. The report also unearths challenges and opportunities related to space acquisitions stemming from a new acquisition process, the Space Force, growth in the commercial space industry, and evolving threats in ...

We recently wrote about the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (“OFCCP”) upcoming requirement for contractors to certify their affirmative action program ("AAP") compliance starting March 31, 2022. In forging ahead with its oversight function, on March 15, 2022, the OFCCP issued Directive 2022-01, Pay Equity Audits (the “Directive”), which requires contractors to produce internal pay equity analyses as part of their audit responses. This is the first OFCCP directive under the Biden Administration and it adds yet another significant element to ...

Federal contractors and subcontractors will soon be required to certify, on an annual basis, to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) that they have developed and maintained a written affirmative action program (“AAP”). On February 1, 2022, registration opened for the OFCCP AAP Verification Interface (“AAP-VI” or “Contractor Portal”) and, on March 31, the certification features will be turned on. When the certification features become available, existing covered contractors will then have until June 30, 2022 to certify that they have ...

A Government Accountability Office ("GAO") bid protest decision highlights an important aspect of "best value" in government contracting: a proper tradeoff decision must provide a rational explanation as to why a superior technical proposal warrants paying a higher price.

The protest of Alpha Omega Integration, LLC, B-419812; B-419812.2, August 10, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 302 involves a challenge to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ("Agency") award under a solicitation for information technology services. The solicitation used a best-value source selection process with a ...

On November 30, 2021, Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued a preliminary injunction in Commonwealth of Kentucky et al. v. Biden et al. (Case No. 21-cv-00055) that prohibits the federal government “from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.” This Client Alert provides a high-level overview of the decision and highlights similar challenges now pending in various U.S. District Courts throughout the country.

In ...

Yesterday, the Department of Defense ("DoD") announced Version 2.0 of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification ("CMMC") Program. Notably, CMMC 2.0 maintains the original CMMC 1.X Program's goal of safeguarding sensitive information, while:

• Simplifying the CMMC standard and providing additional clarity on cybersecurity regulatory, policy, and contracting requirements;
• Focusing the most advanced cybersecurity standards and third-party assessment requirements on companies supporting the highest priority programs; and
• Increasing Department oversight of ...

This Client Alert outlines the critical points for government contractors to know about the Biden Administration’s executive order, regulations, and guidance addressing COVID-19 prevention measures in the workplace.

On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (“EO”), to promote the economy and efficiency in federal procurement by ensuring that certain federal prime contractors and subcontractors provide adequate COVID-19 safeguards to their workers performing on or in ...

In August, the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") provided a boost for small business joint ventures ("JV") that are pursuing defense contracts in holding that the plain language of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA") prohibits the Department of Defense ("DoD") "from issuing solicitations that require a joint venture, rather than the members of the joint venture, hold the required facility clearance."

The decision is welcome news for small business JVs where each member holds the required facility security clearance ("FCL"), as the decision may result ...

On Friday, September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force ("Task Force") published its Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors ("Guidance"). This Guidance follows President Biden's Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors ("EO") and provides definitions, three sections of contractor guidance, and a host of Questions and Answers ("Q&A") to assist contractors in implementing the President's vaccine mandate and workplace safety measures.

Briefly, the Guidance is broad and the vaccine mandate ...

Last week, the Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") Council published a final rule amending the FAR to implement a portion of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ("2017 NDAA"), which requires examples of failure to make good faith efforts to comply with a small business subcontracting plan.

The final rule also provides that "failure to make a good faith effort to comply with the plan may result in the assessment of liquidated damages per FAR 52.219-16, Liquidated Damages—Subcontracting Plan," and requires that "all indirect costs, with certain ...

A recent Government Accountability Office ("GAO") bid protest decision provides a reminder of when an agency may conduct a price realism analysis in fixed-price contracts. So, the next time you want to challenge a competitor's low price, remember that agencies are neither required nor permitted to conduct a price realism analysis in a fixed-price procurement unless the solicitation calls for it either expressly or impliedly.

The protest of Inbound, LLC, B-419853.5, July 30, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ ___ involved the protester's challenge to the establishment of multiple blanket purchase ...