By Carol L. O’Riordan This is the fourth blog post in our series about new federal regulatory initiatives that are on tap for the first half of 2014. On November 2, 2011, the Defense Department, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration issued an interim rule, amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation...
Tag: Government Contracts
Lessons to Learn From Still-Unfolding Navy Contract Scandal
By Carol L. O’Riordan In late January, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced that his Oversight and Government Reform Committee has opened an investigation into a still-unfolding U.S. Navy contracting scandal involving allegations involving sex and bribery. The scandal centers upon Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based firm that resupplied and serviced Navy vessels throughout Asia....
Agencies Set to Plan Regulatory Changes in 2014
Corporate Counsel magazine recently reported that 24 federal agencies and departments have released their regulatory “to-do lists” for the first half of 2014. For example, the magazine reports, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning to begin working on Dodd–Frank reporting rules for financial institutions that receive credit applications from female- or minority-owned businesses. All...
New Labor Dept. Rule Tries to Enhance Hiring of Vietnam-Era Veterans – Part 2
By Carol L. O’Riordan In our last post, we discussed new Labor Department regulations that encourage the hiring and promotion of Vietnam-era and other veterans. In addition to the issues discussed in that post, it’s noteworthy that the new regulations mandate yearly documentation of contractor efforts to recruit and hire protected veterans. A contractor is...
New Labor Dept. Rule Tries to Enhance Hiring of Vietnam-Era Veterans
By Carol L. O’Riordan On August 27, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced a final rule intended to beef up the provisions of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) that promote affirmative action for certain categories of veterans in hiring and promotion by...
New Federal Initiative to Give People With Disabilities More Jobs – Part 2
By Carol L. O’Riordan In a recent post, we discussed a new U.S. Department of Labor rule that creates for the first time an aspirational goal of 7 percent of the federal contract and subcontract workforce for people with disabilities. Under the new rule, contractors are required to initiate a voluntary self-identification program for job...
Can a D.C.-Area Zip Code Help Government Contractors Get Work?
TerraGo, a company with fewer than 100 employees worldwide, recently announced that it will relocate its headquarters to the D.C. area from Atlanta. TerraGo provides location intelligence and geospatial information for defense and intelligence agencies and other government agencies. Why would a company want to do that? What perceived advantage does that give a defense...
SBA Tightens Rules on Misrepresentation of Status for Government Contracts
Contractors seeking to obtain or maintain small business status need to be aware of some upcoming changes to Small Business Administration regulations. As part of an SBA initiative to reduce instances of ineligible firms receiving contracts under small business set-asides or preferences, the SBA has released and will soon implement new rules designed to facilitate...
D.C. Falls Short on Small Business Contract Goals, But What Does This Mean?
The Washington Business Journal reported the other day that the D.C. government fell far short of reaching a statutory goal related to its efforts to contract with small businesses, according to a report from the D.C. Auditor. Under a law adopted in 2005, each D.C. agency is required to spend half of the dollar volume...
Beware: Sequestration Would Hit Hard at Small Businesses
Many forecasters say that the nation may well be headed to the “fiscal cliff,” and that if it does end up there, small businesses will be the first to fall off. If the process known as sequestration, part of the so-called fiscal cliff, actually becomes reality next January, the mandatory federal spending cuts that sequestration...