Lorraine M. Campos

Lorraine M. Campos is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group and focuses her practice on assisting clients with a variety of issues related to government contracts, government ethics, campaign finance, and lobbying laws. Lorraine regularly counsels clients on all aspects of the General Services Administration (GSA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) programs. She also routinely advises clients on the terms and conditions of these agreements, including the Price Reduction Clause, small business subcontracting requirements, and country of origin restrictions mandated under U.S. trade agreements, such as the Trade Agreements Act and the Buy American Act. Additionally, Lorraine advises life sciences companies, in particular, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, on federal procurement and federal pricing statutes, including the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992.

By Lorraine M. Campos and Sarah Bartle on February 24, 2017 Posted in Ethics & Compliance

On February 8, 2017, the Department of Justice Fraud Section posted a new guidance document on its website entitled, “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs” (“Compliance Guidance”). This Compliance Guidance, comprised of a number of topics and questions, comes a little over a year after the Fraud Section hired Hui Chen as its resident compliance expert. … Continue Reading

Trump Administration Seeks to Reduce Regulatory Burdens

By Elizabeth Buehler, Robert Burton, Lorraine M. Campos and Peter J. Eyre on January 31, 2017 Posted in Legal Developments

Continuing his trend of fulfilling the promises set forth in his Contract with the American Voter, President Trump, on January 30, 2017, issued an Executive Order mandating the elimination of at least two existing regulations for every new regulation issued. In particular, the order explains that “whenever an executive department or agency…publicly proposes for notice… Continue Reading

Trump’s Ethics Executive Order More Concerned with Post-Government Employment Activities

By Robert Burton, Lorraine M. Campos, Peter J. Eyre, David J. Ginsberg and Elizabeth Buehler on January 30, 2017 Posted in Ethics & Compliance

On Saturday, January 28, President Trump issued an Executive Order setting forth the ethics regulations governing current and future executive agency appointments, which is both more restrictive and less restrictive than the 2009 Obama Executive Order addressing the same issue. Specifically, and with respect to the former, President Trump’s order bans all executive agency appointees… Continue Reading

OGE Finalizes Rule Regarding Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts for Executive Branch Employees

By Lorraine M. Campos, Gail D. Zirkelbach, Nkechi Kanu and Joelle Sires on November 22, 2016 Posted in Ethics & Compliance

On November 18, 2016, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued a final rule revising the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (“Standards”) applicable to the solicitation and acceptance of gifts from outside sources. See 5 CFR § 2635. The final rule imposes a duty to decline otherwise permissible gifts when… Continue Reading

Tough (Tax) Break: Federal Tax Delinquency and Felony Convictions Could Bar Corporations from Contract Award

By Lorraine M. Campos, David B. Robbins and M. Yuan Zhou on October 5, 2016 Posted in Suspension & Debarment

When assessing whether a contractor is eligible for award, contracting officers are required to conduct a meaningful present responsibility determination using the factors contained in FAR 9.1. However, a final rule issued by the FAR Council on September 30, 2016 has inserted a wild card into the process—the agency suspension and debarment official (SDO). The… Continue Reading

Fastest 5 Minutes, The Podcast Gov’t Contractors Can’t Do Without (Sep. 30)

By David B. Robbins and Lorraine M. Campos on October 3, 2016 Posted in Podcast

Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without. This latest edition is hosted by partners David Robbins and Lorraine Campos and includes updates on the Transactional Data Rule Pilot Program, proposed FAR… Continue Reading

GSA to Require SCA Wage Determinations at the Task Order Level

By Lorraine M. Campos, Steve McBrady, Leslie A. Monahan and Trina Fairley Barlow on May 19, 2016 Posted in GSA Schedule/Commercial Items

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

Seismic Shift in VA Trade Agreements Act Policy

By Lorraine M. Campos, Alan W. H. Gourley, Leslie A. Monahan and Adelicia R. Cliffe on April 25, 2016 Posted in GSA Schedule/Commercial Items

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

New Zealand Companies Out of the “Chillybin”

By Steve McBrady, Lorraine M. Campos, Alan W. H. Gourley and Adelicia R. Cliffe on August 13, 2015 Posted in Legal Developments

By notice published in the Federal Register, the U.S. Trade Representative has confirmed that New Zealand has acceded to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and thereby, effective August 12, 2015, has become a “designated country” under the Trade Agreements Act. Accordingly, products and services from New Zealand are now eligible to be procured under all contracts… Continue Reading

Government Contracts Legal Forum

Providing Legal Insight for Government Contractors