Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

OMB releases guidance related to small business goals

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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released guidance on December 2, 2021, implementing Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government” (EO).  The EO directs agencies to readily make available federal contracting opportunities to all eligible vendors and to remove barriers preventing underserved individuals and communities from entering into procurement opportunities.

Additionally, President Biden has set a goal to increase the share of contracts awarded to small, disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) to 15% by 2025.  Below are five actions all federal agencies are instructed to take to help increase spending to government contractors in underserved communities.  Small businesses should be attentive to how these actions will result in new opportunities for them in 2022.

Continue reading at:  JD Supra

OMB issues guidance on impact of injunction on government contractor vaccine mandate

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The Office of Management and Budget has quickly issued guidance on the impact of the recent federal court ruling enjoining the Biden Administration’s federal contractor vaccine mandate.  The guidance, as reported on the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force website, states for existing contracts that include Executive Order 14042 implementing language:

The Government will take no action to enforce the clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, absent further written notice from the agency, where the place of performance identified in the contract is in a U.S. state or outlying area subject to a court order prohibiting the application of requirements pursuant to the Executive Order . . .

Continue reading at:  JD Supra

Changes coming to DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification under CMMC 2.0

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On November 17, 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) previewing significant changes to its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

The revamp, “CMMC 2.0,” promises a more streamlined and flexible system for defense contractors and their suppliers to comply with CMMC and DOD’s cybersecurity expectations, with practical changes coming into effect between 9 and 24 months from now.

CMMC 2.0 is DOD’s response to a months-long internal review spurred by more than 850 public comments in response to DOD’s September 2020 “CMMC 1.0” interim rule.  While DOD pursues the forthcoming rulemakings, it intends to suspend current CMMC piloting efforts and has stated it will not include CMMC requirements in DOD solicitations.

Contractors should continue, however, to adhere to the existing cybersecurity “assessments” framework, focusing on compliance with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171 controls and required Basic Assessments.

Continue reading at: JD Supra

Judge issues nationwide injunction halting enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandate

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As set forth in more detail in its Order, a Georgia federal district court judge today issued an injunction halting enforcement of Executive Order 14042, which requires that federal contractors and subcontractors with specific types of covered contracts ensure that their covered employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 18th, 2022.

As the Order states,

Accordingly,  the Court ORDERS that Defendants are ENJOINED, during the pendency of this action or until further order of this Court, from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in any state or territory of the United States of America.

In a brief 28-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker found:

it necessary, in order to truly afford injunctive relief to the parties before it, to issue an injunction with nationwide applicability.

The case was initially filed by the states of Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.  However, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. a nationwide trade organization “representing tens of thousands of contractors and subcontractors that regularly bid on and work on federal contracts for services” petitioned to intervene in the suit and joined the states in their request for a preliminary injunction.

Continue reading at:  JD Supra

Nondisplacement of qualified workers is back, but with changes

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On November 18, 2021, President Biden issued a new Executive Order entitled “Executive Order on Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts.”  A similar Executive Order had been issued under the Obama Administration.  Many of the same concepts and requirements have returned, but there are also several notable changes.

President Obama issued Executive Order 13495 on January 30, 2009, creating the original nondisplacement requirement for federal contractors.  President Trump revoked EO 13495 on October 31, 2019 through Executive Order 13897.  In President Biden’s Executive Order issued last week, he revoked EO 13897 and kept EO 13495 revoked.

Last week’s Executive Order maintains all of the basic requirements from the original Obama Administration version.

Continue reading at:  The Contractor’s Perspective

Contractor minimum wage to increase on January 30th

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The new floor is $15 an hour.

The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor published its final rule implementing regulations under Executive Order 14026 (Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors).  These regulations require that certain contracts include a clause requiring covered employees to be paid no less than $15 per hour.  In addition to applying to new contracts, the final rule requires that existing contracts be updated to include the minimum wage contract clause when an agency exercises an option to purchase additional services.

For details on which contracts are subject to the new regulation, please read the final rule.

Continue reading at:  JD Supra

Georgia defense contractor agrees to $900,000 payment to settle False Claims Act allegations

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Two Georgia companies and their owners have agreed to pay $900,000 to resolve allegations that they provided unapproved substitute parts to the U.S. Army and that they violated the Buy American Act.

The settlement, by Southeastern Equipment Co., Inc., SECO Parts and Equipment Co., and their owners, B. Roy Smith and Byron M. Morris (collectively, “SECO”), resolves allegations under the False Claims Act that SECO knowingly provided unapproved substitute parts through the U.S. Army’s Simplified Nonstandard Acquisition Program (SNAP) and violated the Buy American Act by providing parts manufactured in a non-qualifying country, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

“Defense contractors have an obligation to provide the government what they say they will,” said Acting U.S. Attorney David H. Estes. “We will continue to vigorously pursue contractors that do not honor their word and follow the law when doing business with our armed services.”

Continue reading at:  U.S. Department of Justice website

Economist sees full recovery for Georgia next year

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Georgia’s economy will bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic next year, despite inflation and the latest COVID-19 variant, the dean of the business school at the University of Georgia predicted Monday.

“We’ve made tremendous progress getting back to normal,” Benjamin Ayers of UGA’s Terry College of Business, told an audience of about 475 business leaders at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta.  “By late 2022, Georgia’s economy will fully recover from the COVID-19 recession.”

In fact, Georgia’s forecast economic growth rate of 4.3% next year will outperform the predicted increase in the nation’s gross domestic product of 4.0%, Ayers said during Terry College’s annual Economic Outlook luncheon.

Continue reading at: GPB

Increasing criminal and False Claims Act liability in small business government contracting programs

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) preference programs can be vital for small businesses trying to compete in the potentially lucrative world of U.S. government contracting, but participation in these programs is not without risk.  Indeed, the programs can be fraught with peril and contain many landmines for those who do not understand and diligently comply with applicable small business program requirements.

Small Business Government Contracting Programs

The SBA works to make sure small businesses get at least 23 percent of all federal contracting dollars each year, primarily through the SBA’s small business and contracting assistance programs.  These programs are designed to assist small businesses by limiting competition for certain government contracts or by awarding a certain percentage of contracts to small businesses that participate in the respective programs.  The SBA has a variety of such programs, such as the 8(a) Business Development (8(a)) Program), the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program, the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program, and the Historically-Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Program, which were created for small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged people or entities, service-disabled veterans, or women or small businesses operating in historically underutilized business zones, respectively.

Continue reading at: JD Supra

Proposed FAR rule seeks to accelerate payments to small business

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This past week, the FAR Council issued a proposed rule that would potentially speed up payments to small business prime contractors and subcontractors across the federal government.  The proposed rule, found at 86 Fed. Reg. 53,923, seeks to incentivize agencies to pay prime contractors that are small businesses within 15 days instead of 30 days after receipt of a proper invoice if no payment date is specified in the contract.  It also would apply to prime contractors that subcontract with small businesses, applying a similar 15-day requirement to pay small subcontractors when accelerated payments are received.  According to the proposed rule, the FAR Council will apply this to most federal contracts by seeking determinations to make this new rule applicable to commercial contracts as well as those under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold.

Continue reading at:  The Contractor’s Perspective

 

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