I hope you all enjoyed your Fourth of July and celebrated the things you love about our country. My in-laws live outside the city limits, so around these parts the Fourth also means shooting off fireworks (in a safe manner of course).

Because of the holiday, we’re offering you a rare double feature of news about government contracting–2 weeks in 1! So sit back and enjoy.

Some of the interesting news this week includes updates on an alleged email scheme involving a phony contracting officer, NIST draft guideline for developing artificial intelligence technical standards, and contractor supply chain liabilities.

As government contracts attorneys, we find even the mundane aspects of federal contracting law (for example, CAGE codes) pretty interesting and important. But a recent FBI warning detailed in one of the stories from this weeks reminds us all that government contractors are crucial to the safety and well-being of the nation.

As reported in the story, the FBI has warned contractors “about foreign intelligence services using social media accounts to target and recruit employees with US government clearance.” The FBI warns that “US adversary intelligence officers are using popular US-based social media platforms to identify, recruit, and conduct operations against USG clearance holders, to include private sector employees or contractors supporting the USG.” This is a good reminder of the high stakes involved in working for the government.

Read on for this story and other interesting government contracting news, such as updates on a bill for back pay for contractors during the government shutdown, making cyber security an allowable cost, and a hack that exposed thousands of license plate numbers.

Welcome to another addition of SmallGovCon’s week in review. While you might be on vacation (and feel free to wait to read this until you get back), the world of government contracting spins on.

In this week’s edition, there are some interesting updates including paying back wages to federal government contractors who were not paid during the government shutdown, merging OPM with the General Services Administration and the latest in space contracting.

Have a great weekend!

We hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend. At the same time, our thoughts go out to to those affected by recent weather events, including a tornado that touched down just outside of Lawrence. While none of us at Koprince Law were directly affected by the tornado in Lawrence, many members of our community were. We thank the forecasters, first responders, and others who worked to warn us and are helping people rebuild after this event.

In this week’s roundup of recent news in the government contracting world, you can read some interesting items, including a study of how whistleblowers can reduce government fraud, government procurement innovations, and a request by the DOD to defend against cyber attacks.

Happy Memorial Day! Please take some time this weekend to remember those veterans who have sacrificed for our country.

And amidst the fun of kicking off summer this weekend, you can read up on some of the latest happenings in government contracting. In this Memorial Day edition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review, you can read about GSA’s new e-commerce platform, a new federal civilian cloud platform, and whether cyber security failures can lead to a false claims case.

This week finds Lawrence with temperatures reaching the 90s. The 7-year-olds that I coach at soccer found this to be a little too hot; too bad I don’t have the indoor air conditioned facility they were asking for. But fear not, readers, you can enjoy this week’s roundup of federal government contracting news in the comfort of your air-conditioned facilities.

And, for those in the region, we wanted to highlight an upcoming networking and learning opportunity. The Kansas PTAC will be hosting Mission Installation Contracting Command (MICC) – Ft. Leavenworth’s 2019 Industry Day at Johnson County Community College. This is a great opportunity to meet representatives from the MICC and the Fort Leavenworth Contracting Staff.

Read on for some interesting updates in the government contracting world, including how whistleblowers reduce fraud, updates on the government’s electronic procurement efforts, and the ongoing federal migration to the cloud (IT stuff, not a new type of floating living platform).