On October 30, 2023, President Biden released an Executive Order (EO) on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This landmark EO seeks to advance the safe and secure development and deployment of AI by implementing a society-wide effort across government, the private sector, academia, and civil society to harness “AI for good,” while mitigating its substantial risks.
Continue Reading Biden’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence
On September 21, 2023, the White House directed federal agencies to incorporate interim Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG) estimates into a wide range of federal agency actions, including each agency’s procurement function. This most recent direction builds upon the Administration’s ongoing and wide-reaching effort (examples discussed here and here) to leverage federal procurement spending in pursuit of climate change and sustainability policy objectives. The hallmark of that effort to date had been a proposed rule that would, if finalized, require thousands of federal contractors to inventory, publicly disclose, and, in some cases, seek reductions in GHG emissions (see our prior discussion here). However, the White House’s incorporation of SC-GHG into the federal procurement process has the potential to be just as significant to the contracting community by providing a cost metric (in dollars) needed for contracting agencies to evaluate and confer a preference on bids and contractors with lower GHG emission profiles.
The Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration has issued final standards for the installation, operation, and maintenance of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations paid for with federal funds pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and other federal authorities. The standards, which go into effect on March 30, 2023, regulate the types of chargers that may be installed, as well as payment processing, labor, cybersecurity, and data privacy practices for EV charging infrastructure on federal highways.
The IIJA established the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program to provide $5 billion in funding to states, local governments, transportation authorities, and tribes for the acquisition and installation of EV charging infrastructure. The IIJA allows recipients of NEVI Formula Program funds to partner with private entities to operate the EV charging infrastructure, but the new rule limits how income from EV charging stations can be used.
Although the purpose of the NEVI Formula Program is to support the build out of interconnected EV charging infrastructure along federal highways that have been designated as Alternative Fuel Corridors, the standards apply to all projects that install EV charging infrastructure using Title 23 federal funds. The IIJA directed the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and stakeholders, to issue minimum guidelines and standards concerning the installation, operation, or maintenance by qualified technicians of electric vehicle charging infrastructure; the interoperability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure; network connectivity of electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and publicly available information about locations, pricing, real-time availability, and accessibility through mapping applications.
Continue Reading DOT Releases Final Standards for Federally Funded EV Charging Stations
On Tuesday, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) issued the First Notice Of Funding Opportunity (First NOFO) under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act), P.L. 117-167. As we have covered, the CHIPS Act provides for federal funding and assistance for the U.S. semiconductor industry, including building and operating new semiconductor factories, and
On February 28, 2023, the Commerce Department released the first Notice of Funding Opportunity (“First NOFO”) under the recently enacted CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act), P.L. 117-167. The First NOFO seeks applications for assistance—including direct funding, loans, and loan guarantees—for projects to construct, expand, or modernize commercial semiconductor facilities.
In addition, the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Program Office announced that it will issue two additional NOFOs this year—a second NOFO for semiconductor materials and manufacturing equipment facilities in the spring of 2023, and a third NOFO for research and development facilities in the fall of 2023.
The First NOFO is focused on the fabrication of leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors and includes both front-end wafer fabrication and back-end assembly, testing, and packaging. According to the CHIPS Program Office’s webinar on February 28, the Commerce Department has begun accepting statements of interest for all potential applicants. It will begin accepting full applications on a rolling basis beginning March 31, 2023 for leading-edge manufacturing facilities, and June 26, 2023 for current-generation, mature-node, or back-end manufacturing facilities.
Last week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced nearly $60 billion of funding available to states through DOT formula grant programs in fiscal year (FY) 2023. States may use these funds, authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to support critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and environmental and safety improvements. The FY2023 grant funds represent
Not to be outdone by the Department of Defense’s commitment to consider inflation relief, on September 12, 2022, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) Federal Acquisition Service published a Supplement to Acquisition Letter MV-22-02, extending and enhancing policies to provide inflation relief to GSA Schedule contractors. As we previously explained, the original Acquisition Letter relaxed
On July 18, the GSA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued an Alert Memorandum both broadcasting and criticizing the Federal Acquisition Service’s (FAS) apparent decision to expand the Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) rule to the entire Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). The TDR Pilot Program studied the potential for TDR to reduce the compliance burdens of the MAS program by replacing the various requirements Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contractors must fulfill to ensure the pricing offered to GSA customers is fair and reasonable, including the obligation to make Commercial Sales Practice disclosures and to track commercial pricing and discounts to the negotiated Basis of Award customer under the Price Reductions Clause. The GSA OIG previously criticized the TDR Pilot Program.
During December 2021, the House and Senate reached agreement on a compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. On December 23, 2021, Congress presented S. 1605 to President Biden, which he signed on December 27, 2021.
The FY2022 NDAA contains numerous provisions relating to acquisition policy—which provide new opportunities for government contractors, will result in the imposition of new clauses or reporting requirements on government contractors, require government reporting to Congress on acquisition authorities and programs, alter processes and/or procedures to which government contractors are subject, etc. Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group discusses the most consequential changes in the FY2022 NDAA for government contractors below.
Continue Reading National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022: Acquisition Policy Changes of Which Government Contractors Should Be Aware
Earlier today, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a preliminary nationwide injunction of the contractor vaccine mandate in Executive Order 14042. This injunction will bar the Government “from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in any state or territory of the United States