Happy Friday and welcome to another addition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review. As always, there are some interesting updates from the world of federal contracting this past week.
Continue reading…GAO: Single Instance of Disparate Treatment Prejudiced Protester
A GAO protest can rest on a number of different grounds. One of the most fertile, however, is disparate treatment. That is, GAO is particularly sensitive to arguments that a procuring agency wasn’t even-handed in evaluating the same features or omissions in competing proposals.
Continue reading…Congress Changes the Rules on PPP Loan Forgiveness, but Questions Remain
Newly passed changes to the Paycheck Protection Program are designed to make it easier for small businesses to have their loans forgiven.
The Paycheck Protection Program has been around since the end of March and provides funds for small businesses to retain employees and keep operating during the global coronavirus pandemic. If used properly, the business should have all or a portion of the loan forgiven. The new law eases some of the restrictions on how that money can be spent.
Continue reading…Required Disclosures to the Government did not Waive Attorney Client Privilege, 4th Circuit Finds
Attorney-client privilege is a cornerstone of the American legal system. It protects conversations between an attorney and their client from disclosure during litigation. The goal of this protection is to allow an attorney to provide the best representation possible by protecting client communications from being later leveraged during litigation. Sometimes, however, invocation of attorney-client privilege protections can be complicated by required disclosures.
But federal contractors are required to notify the government about various circumstances that may impact their role as contractors. What if there is a conflict between mandatory government disclosures and attorney-client privilege? In a recent decision, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to determine whether certain mandatory disclosures under the FAR waived attorney client privilege.
Continue reading…SmallGovCon Week In Review: June 1 – June 5, 2020
Hope everyone is having a nice Friday.
This week saw some intriguing updates in the government contracting world. For one, GAO released its snapshot on government spending for fiscal year 2019, revealing that discretionary government spending increased about $20 billion versus 2018, going to $586 billion. Otherwise, trends for 2019 were similar to 2018. DOD spending was about 65% of the total, while services across all agencies made up about 60% of spending. More insights are included in the article listed below.
In other news, the CMMC accreditation body will soon release assessor training requirements, SBA has an online MBA program for veteran small business owners, and Oklahoma contractors will pay a $2.8 million settlement for False Claims allegations involving fraudulent small business set-aside contracts.
Continue reading…The FAR’s Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Clause is Finally Getting the Boot
Federal agencies will be issuing a final rule that will remove the infamous nondisplacement of qualified workers clause from the FAR. The final rule goes into effect June 5, 2020. Let’s take a look.
CMMC Update: Details on Certification Infrastructure and COTS Products
The framework for the DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) process continues to move forward. Here’s an update on what’s currently happening with the CMMC that includes a few more details the DOD and the independent CMMC Accreditation Body have recently released about the nuts and bolts of the certification process.
Continue reading…