The final year of the Obama Administration has seen a flurry of activity that will affect the government contracting community. Appearing on WJLA’s Government Matters program (available here at govtmatters.tv), Crowell & Moring Chair Angela Styles discussed some of the latest changes that will impact industry including the GSA’s final rule on transactional data reporting;… Continue Reading
Beginning in June 2016, GSA will remove current wage determinations from existing MAS Schedules and require ordering agencies to incorporate determinations at the task order level to ensure that the “most recent” wage determinations are incorporated when an individual task order is placed. The recently announced change is part of GSA’s plan to “update” the… Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) announced a seismic shift in policy that opens VA Schedule 65 IB to covered drugs that do not comply with the Trade Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. §2501 et seq.) (“TAA”). While the VA’s prior policy prohibited contractors from offering TAA non-compliant drugs from on a Federal… Continue Reading
On August 26, 2015, the DoD published an Interim Rule to implement DoD policy on the acquisition of cloud services. This Interim Rule provides a list of terms and conditions regarding cloud computing services to be used in DoD contracts for information technology services as well as introduces the requirement that offerors responding to DoD… Continue Reading
The General Services Administration (“GSA”) is rolling out two modifications to its Contractor Assistance Visits (“CAVs”), in-person or virtual meetings between GSA’s Industrial Operations Analysts (“IOAs”) and GSA Schedule holders to assess compliance, identify potential problems, and test the contractor’s system controls and processes. Tom Brady, the Director of the Supplier Management Division, GSA Office… Continue Reading
On Wednesday, September 9th at 12 PM Eastern, join our government contracts attorneys for a webinar entitled: “Mitigating Trade Agreements Act Risks for GSA Schedule Holders.” During this 60-minute webinar, we will provide an overview of the GSA Schedule contract requirements related to the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”), review recent enforcement actions by the government… Continue Reading
On March 13, 2014, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum titled “Class Deviation – Determination of Fair and Reasonable Prices When Using Federal Supply Schedule Contracts.” This memorandum directs DoD contracting officers to make their own determination of fair and reasonable pricing when using Federal Supply Schedules (also known as GSA or VA Schedule… Continue Reading
Just last week, the Department of Justice announced another large False Claims Act settlement with a GSA Schedule contractor – for $60.9 million. A review of the underlying qui tam complaint, filed by a former vice president of the contractor, reveals multiple alleged failures by Tremco Inc. and RPM International to comply with the basic… Continue Reading
On Monday, DoD issued a final rule in a continuing effort to reduce the potentially inappropriate use of commercial item contracts. DFARS: Commercial Determination Approval, 77 Fed. Reg. 14,480, (Mar. 12, 2012) (to be codified at 48 C.F.R. pt. 212). The rule, most notably, modifies DFARS subpart 212.102 to require approval at the level above the contracting… Continue Reading
While the administrative tools of suspension and debarment allow the government to prohibit entities from receiving contracts or grants directly, the procurement regulations also contain restrictions on prime contractors’ ability to subcontract with suspended or debarred entities. Historically, these restrictions, found at section 52.209-6 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, have: Prohibited government contractors from entering… Continue Reading
I will be participating in a webinar on June 1, 2011, to discuss GSA Schedule contracting. This webinar will provide an informative overview of the key contract requirements and compliance obligations, including pricing disclosures, the Price Reduction Clause, Trade Agreements Act, labor qualifications, and payment of the Industrial Funding Fee. It will also provide insightful discussion of… Continue Reading
On May 16, 2011, GSA published a Notice to clarify whether information contractors input into the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (“FAPIIS”) is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Presumably this Notice was prompted by a recent flood of FOIA requests. In essence, the Notice provides that Information posted… Continue Reading
The United States has intervened in yet another False Claims Act suit against GSA Schedule contractors alleging violations of the Trade Agreements Act. On November 24, 2010, the United States filed its Complaint in Intervention in U.S. ex rel. Navarro v. Divine Imaging, Inc. et al. The complaint alleges that four different office supply companies… Continue Reading
In addition to making specific recommendations for Services contracts, the Multiple Award Schedule (“MAS”) Advisory Panel’s Final Report (.pdf) recommended a number of actions to be taken by GSA related to the acquisition of Solutions (a specific combination of services and products defined by each customer’s needs). The Panel recommended: Do not apply the Price… Continue Reading
The Multiple Award Schedule (“MAS”) Advisory Panel presented a series of recommendations (.pdf) to the new GSA Administrator on March 10, 2010 related to the structure, use and pricing of the GSA MAS Program. The Panel’s charge was to focus on the “most favored customer” and price reduction provisions in Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS) contracts (also… Continue Reading
