On July 28, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report titled, “Serious Concerns of Potential Fraud in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program Pertaining to the Response to COVID-19.” The report identifies and summarizes OIG’s “serious concerns” of potential fraud and calls for “immediate attention and
On April 8, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a blog post titled, “Using Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms,” that offers important lessons about the use of AI and algorithms in automated decision-making. The post begins by noting that headlines today tout rapid improvements in AI technology, and the use of more advanced
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued interim guidance for enforcing the recording of occupational illnesses requirements, specifically for cases of coronavirus (COVID-19). This guidance rescinds OSHA’s earlier guidance providing for enforcement discretion on COVID-19 complaints arising outside of healthcare or emergency response employers. As of May 26, 2020, and until further notice, OSHA
Federal authorities continue to prioritize and aggressively pursue individuals across the country who seek to exploit coronavirus relief programs meant to aid small businesses and their employees. Over the past week, Muge Ma of New York and Samuel Yates of Texas were arrested, each for submitting multiple fraudulent applications for COVID-19 relief through the Paycheck
Yesterday evening, May 18, Defense Pricing and Contracting issued draft instructions and requirements for contractors submitting Section 3610 reimbursement requests. Comments from industry are welcome by emailing osd.dfars@mail.mil before 5pm ET on Friday, May 22, 2020.
The draft instruction requires significant information from contractors. The required information falls into these general categories: detail about requested
On May 14, the President issued an Executive Order (EO) delegating funding and loan authority under Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support domestic production of strategic resources to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak and strengthen domestic supply chains. The DFC’s loan authority
On May 5, 2020—a mere two days before the close of the “safe harbor” period established by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for borrowers to return Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans if recipients did not believe they could make the economic need certification in good faith—Treasury and the SBA have updated their FAQ document with
On April 28, the President signed an Executive Order on Delegating Authority Under the DPA with Respect to Food Supply Chain Resources During the National Emergency Caused by the Outbreak of COVID-19. The new EO delegates to the Department of Agriculture (“the Department”) Defense Production Act (DPA) Title I priorities and allocation authority with
On April 23, 2020, Treasury drastically complicated the landscape for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by updating a Frequently Asked Questions document with a response to the question: “Do businesses owned by large companies with adequate sources of liquidity to support the business’s ongoing operations qualify for a PPP loan?”
The PPP application requires applicants
As businesses continue to grapple with and progress through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, it is not too early to focus beyond the horizon on what the privacy and cybersecurity landscape might look like when the crisis finally passes. Crowell & Moring’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Group seeks to identify likely issues and new