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Last week, the Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR") Council published a final rule amending the FAR to implement a portion of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ("2017 NDAA"), which requires examples of failure to make good faith efforts to comply with a small business subcontracting plan.
The final rule also provides that "failure to make a good faith effort to comply with the plan may result in the assessment of liquidated damages per FAR 52.219-16, Liquidated Damages—Subcontracting Plan," and requires that "all indirect costs, with certain ...
A recent Government Accountability Office ("GAO") bid protest decision provides a reminder of when an agency may conduct a price realism analysis in fixed-price contracts. So, the next time you want to challenge a competitor's low price, remember that agencies are neither required nor permitted to conduct a price realism analysis in a fixed-price procurement unless the solicitation calls for it either expressly or impliedly.
The protest of Inbound, LLC, B-419853.5, July 30, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ ___ involved the protester's challenge to the establishment of multiple blanket purchase ...
Most government contracts include a clause giving the government the right to terminate the contract, or any part thereof, for its sole convenience “when it is in the best interests of the government.” FAR Parts 49, 12, 13, and 31 establish the regulatory requirements for termination and settlement of government contracts. The mechanics are specific. Upon receipt of the notice of termination, the prime contractor should immediately stop all work and terminate all subcontracts related to the terminated portion of the prime contract. Inventory disposal schedules must be ...
OTA Overview
The Department of Defense can issue Other Transaction Agreements (“OTA”) for research, prototypes, and production. 10 U.S.C. § 2371b. Research OTAs are available for basic, applied, and advanced research projects. The DoD may also acquire prototypes using OTAs. Production OTAs are only permitted where the government has previously acquired a prototype under an earlier OTA. Additionally, the solicitation for the original prototype must have notified offerors that the government reserved the right to issue a follow-on Production OTA.
OTAs at the GAO
In a ...
Prime contractors are responsible for incorporating the appropriate provisions of their prime contracts into the agreements with their subcontractor. Determining which clauses are applicable to subcontractors and how best to monitor subcontractor compliance needs to be a priority. The first step is identifying contract clauses that are required to be incorporated into the contractor’s subcontracts. These “mandatory flow-downs” are FAR, DFARS, and other contract clauses that, by their own terms, are required to be incorporated into subcontracts. Clauses that must ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) just announced that the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recovered a record $304 million in wages owed to workers in the Fiscal Year 2018 (read more here). This includes violations of labor laws unique to federal contractors, such as the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA). On September 13, 2018, the DOL found that a California-based contractor and five of its subcontractors had violated the SCA. WHD determined the contractor owed over $3.5 million to 1,416 workers (both their own and subcontractor personnel) for failing to pay federal ...
Most contractors are aware that President Trump signed into law the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 on December 17, 2018. The Act modified how the Small Business Administration (SBA) calculates a business’ size for revenue-based size standards. Size has been calculated based on a three fiscal year average of annual receipts. The Act increased the period of time in the calculation from three years to five.
The Act, however, contained no effective date. On December 21, 2018, SBA issued an information notice announcing the new statute would not take effect until the SBA ...
Most companies pursuing government contracts enter into teaming agreements to prepare and submit their proposals. Teaming agreements are an important element of the government contracting proposal process, used to enhance the likelihood of the teaming partners winning a contract by combining complementary capabilities to offer a more comprehensive and competitive solution. Typically, a teaming agreement will describe the anticipated contribution for each team member in performing the prime contract and designate one of the parties as the “prime” and the other as a ...
Maynard Nexsen shareholders Stephen Davis and David Block joined Maynard's Andy Watson and Jon Levin in hosting a webinar on June 29th. During the 60 minute program, they provided listeners with an in-depth discussion of common pitfalls related to the Fair Labor Standards Act, updates to the Federal Immigration Law as well as other updates in the labor and employment industry. The Government Solutions Webinar Series is a monthly program targeted at assisting government entities with the strategies of navigating the laws of government contracts. For more details on the program ...
Brandon Smith of Anglin, Reichmann, Snellgrove & Armstrong, P.C. joined Jon Levin in hosting a webinar on May 25th. During the 60 minute program, they provided listeners with a discussion of Business Systems: Compliance Requirements for Large and Small Businesses. The Government Solutions Webinar Series is a monthly program targeted at assisting government entities with the strategies of navigating the laws of government contracts. For more details on the program, please contact Ellery Miller.
Be sure to watch the webinar here, as well as download the presentation from the ...