Proposed Sustainable Procurement Rule Would Streamline Existing Environmental Regulations and Clarify FAR Part 23
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Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts Insights blog provides an in-depth analysis of news, developments, and trends impacting government contracting and procurement. Through Insights, attorneys from our nationally recognized Government Contracts and Public Procurement practice will offer a real-time assessment of the statutory, regulatory, legal, and business-related developments that are shaping the industry. This blog will also examine a full array of U.S. and non-U.S. public procurement issues, mindful that our clients compete in a global marketplace.
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- The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council published on August 3, 2023, a proposed “Sustainable Procurement” rule that reorganizes FAR Part 23 for clarity, moves subparts unrelated to sustainability or material safety to FAR Part 26, and includes a proposed “Sustainable Products and Services” contract... ›
July 2023 Bid Protest Roundup: Personnel Loss, Conflicts, Timeliness
By: Locke Bell
This month’s bid protest roundup highlights two decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (“Court”), one addressing an offeror’s loss of key personnel and a second addressing organizational conflicts of interest (“OCIs”) arising out of an offeror’s reliance on former government employees in... ›Biden Executive Order Has Potential to Discourage U.S. Company Participation in Federal Research
By: Tina D. Reynolds
A new Biden administration Executive Order proposes to enforce more rigorously U.S. manufacturing requirements attendant to federally funded inventions. While the aim of the Executive Order is to support domestic manufacturing and jobs, the policy could have the unintended effect of discouraging U.S. company... ›SBA Finalizes Rule to Modernize the SBIC Program
By: Damien C. Specht, Alissandra Young McCann and Markus Gerhard Speidel
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) finalized a rule to modernize the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program on July 17, 2023. Part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the new SBIC Investment Diversification and Growth (IDG) rule seeks to “unlock unrealized potential and... ›DoD Issues Updated Other Transactions (OT) Guide
By: Locke Bell
The Department of Defense updated its guidance on “other transaction” agreements, or “OTs,”[1] an increasingly popular contracting authority not subject to the FAR or most procurement laws that accounted for more than $37 billion in defense spending from 2019 through 2021.[2] Although the new... ›June 2023 Bid Protest Roundup: Errors, Experience, Corrective Action
By: Krista A. Nunez
This month’s bid protest roundup focuses on two decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (“Court”) and one decision from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”). These decisions involve (1) the Court’s determination that, based on the facts, inconsistencies in an offeror’s proposed labor... ›Hard Validations and Cutlines: What Happened on CIO-SP4?
By: James A. Tucker and Damien C. Specht
If you’ve been following the saga of the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center’s (NITAAC) Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners (CIO-SP4) procurement, you likely know the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued two decisions sustaining post-award protests by 91 unsuccessful... ›Pratt’s Government Contracting Law Report: Key Considerations for Litigating Classified Bid Protests
By: Kevin P. Mullen, Sandeep N. Nandivada, James A. Tucker and Caitlin A. Crujido
Kevin Mullen, Sandeep Nandivada, James Tucker, and Caitlin Crujido authored an article for Pratt's Government Contracting Law Report sharing 10 factors to consider when contemplating a classified protest. "Find a law firm with a sufficient number of experienced bid protest lawyers with the requisite... ›Clarifying Minor Errors: The Court Makes an Agency Seek a Clarification
By: James A. Tucker
Offerors whose proposals are disqualified for immaterial typographical and data input errors will want to read an interesting new protest decision from the Court of Federal Claims. In Aspire Therapy Services & Consultants, Inc. v. United States , the Court sustained a protest because the... ›When Does the So-Called TikTok Ban Really Apply to Contractors and Their Employees?
By: Tina D. Reynolds, James A. Tucker and Locke Bell
In the extensive chatter since the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (“FAR Council”) published an interim rule on the new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.204-27, “Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application,” commentators have almost universally advised that if a federal contractor’s employee uses a device... ›