Julia M. Fox Counsel

Perkins Coie LLP attorneys Alexander Canizares, Richard Oehler and Julia Fox discuss the U.S. Justice Department's new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative and detail how government contractors can ensure their continued compliance with cybersecurity requirements.

On October 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an initiative to pursue civil False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement actions against government contractors that knowingly fail to follow required cybersecurity standards and reporting requirements.

President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) on January 25, 2021, outlining his administration’s policy to increase procurement of U.S.-made products by expansion of domestic preferences for American-made goods and components purchased by the federal government.  

The U.S. government has issued a long-awaited rule implementing legislation to prevent federal agencies from contracting with entities that use telecommunications equipment or services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, and certain other Chinese companies, a major step that will impose a significant new compliance burden on government contractors.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and several federal agencies have issued guidance implementing a provision in the CARES Act that allows government contractors to be reimbursed for paid leave to employees and subcontractors unable to work during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued guidance on March 20, 2020, to the heads of executive departments and agencies regarding contract performance issues associated with COVID-19.

Cybersecurity, supply chain risks, data rights, software acquisitions, and cost or pricing data are among the procurement-related issues targeted in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes $738 billion in defense spending next year, a $21 billion increase from FY 2019.

Effective October 1, 2019, a new rule issued by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to limit the use of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements.

After receiving more than one thousand comments from industry and other stakeholders, on October 1, 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) will issue a solicitation for a single, consolidated Schedule as part of its project to combine its 24 existing Multiple Award Schedules (MAS), also referred to as Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), into one.

In an interim rule published on August 13, 2019, the U.S. government revised the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to prohibit federal agencies from acquiring telecommunications equipment or services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation and other Chinese companies.

This update was republished in Law360 on 09.10.2019, "Adapting To Gov't Contractor Rules Banning Chinese Telecom."

Congress is moving closer toward passage of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

This update was published in LexisNexis "The FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act: What Government Contractors Should Watch For," on 10.2019.

The Small Business Administration issued a proposed rule on December 4, 2018, to implement, among other things, certain provisions of the National Defense Authorization Acts of 2016 and 2017.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) proposed to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) on December 4, 2018, to limit the use of lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements.

There have been several recent developments that may give rise to optimism among innovative, commercially oriented contractors that have been avoiding DOD.

This update was published in Law360 "It May Be Time For Companies To Reconsider DOD Contracts," on 07.06.2018.

Starting May 1, 2018, the General Accounting Office (GAO) will require that all new protests (except those containing classified information) be filed using its web-based electronic filing system known as the Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS).