Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Congress passes federal “ban-the-box” law for federal agencies and government contractors

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Congress has passed the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2019 (“Fair Chance Act”) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which was enacted on December 17, 2019.

This federal “ban-the-box” law prohibits federal agencies and federal contractors from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional offer of employment has been made.

The Fair Chance Act, which received bipartisan support, will go into effect two years from the date of enactment.  The measure provides exceptions for three types of positions, including: (1) positions related to law enforcement and national security duties; (2) positions requiring access to classified information; and (3) positions for which it is required by law to access criminal history information before the conditional offer stage.

The Fair Chance Act directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA) to issue implementing regulations.  Violations by contractors are subject to an array of penalties ranging from warning, to suspension of payment.

Continue reading at:  Akin Gump

DHS tests AI for making sense of contractor past-performance data

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The Department of Homeland Security is almost done with the first phase of a project that will allow federal agencies to use artificial intelligence for a task that can be overwhelming for humans: extracting, analyzing and visualizing the underutilized data in the governmentwide system for contractor past-performance records.

Next week DHS will finish reviewing services from nine vendors who were given data sets from the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).  Before awarding contracts worth more than $250,000, agencies review historical data in the CPARS to see how offerers acted under previous agreements.  It’s not an easy task.

With more than 1 million records covering 60,000 contractors, CPARS can bog down contracting officers, said Polly Hall, acquisition innovation advocate director of the Procurement Innovation Lab at DHS.  They can sort records by contract value, Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number or performance period, but even once those filters are applied, the results frequently still number in the hundreds and can only be viewed PDF at a time.

Continue reading at:  Fedscoop

New federal contract reporting requirements aimed at protecting supply chains through detection of counterfeit parts

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Federal contractors already subject to a myriad of reporting requirements should be prepared for yet another.  Effective December 23, 2019, a new Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) provision entitled “Reporting of Nonconforming Items to the Government Industry Data Exchange Program” requires federal contractors and subcontractors to report to the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (“GIDEP”) certain counterfeit or suspect counterfeit parts and certain major or critical nonconformances.  The new FAR provision (48 C.F.R. § 46.317) and clause (FAR 52.246-26) applies to both civilian and defense contracts over the simplified acquisition threshold, currently $150,000.

Continue reading at:  Seyfarth Shaw

Bipartisan bill would ban reverse auctions for federal construction contracts

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House members introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday to improve the procurement process for federally funded construction projects.

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., introduced the “Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act” (H.R. 5644).  If passed, it would ban federal agencies from using reverse auctions to award design and construction contracts.  This procurement method often favors businesses offering the lowest price, rather than those that are most qualified, they said.  The Senate passed its version of the bill in late December.

Reverse auctions can “compromise quality, overlook small businesses, or even require a new bidding process down the road, eliminating any initial savings,” the lawmakers said in a press release. “Reverse auctions are ultimately inappropriate platforms for design-build contracts, which require design concepts, key personnel, and technical solutions to be incorporated into any successful final decision.”

Continue reading at:  Government Executive

Air Force’s ‘Base of the Future’ ideas will be tested on Tyndall rebuild

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With 2020 in full swing, the Air Force’s cross-sector outreach program—AFWERX—announced this year’s innovation focus: the base of the future.

After Hurricane Michael decimated Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida in 2018, Air Force leadership saw an opportunity to rebuild with the future in mind.

“With the rebuild of Tyndall Air Force Base, the Air Force has an opportunity to create from scratch an installation that will be recognized as a center of excellence for innovation,” according to a notice posted to the beta.SAM.gov Contracting Opportunities site.

As the service looks to revamp a key base, AFWERX will be hosting a series of workshops across the country to get feedback on emerging technologies in a number of fields.  As part of its mission, AFWERX brings military leaders together with innovators from across the private sector, including industry, academia and “non-traditional contributors” through challenge workshops focused on specific needs.

“AFWERX enables thoughtful, deliberate, ground-up innovation across the Air Force,” the notice explains.  “This is accomplished through an innovative approach that combines startup urgency with the largest pool of motivated talent in the world to uncover opportunities to improve Air Force capabilities, connect and engage the right stakeholders, and facilitate outcomes.”

Continue reading at:  Nextgov

Top Priorities from SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza

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On January 7, 2020, the Senate confirmed U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza as the 26th Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA).  During her testimony before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Carranza listed a number of priorities she will bring to her role at SBA.  Below are notable priorities that may impact small businesses and/or government contractors.

Provide Better Resources to Small Businesses in Disadvantaged Communities

Carranza mentioned that connecting small businesses from disadvantaged communities with SBA support services is the key to helping them win profitable government contracts.  Some disadvantaged businesses she noted in particular were African-American or Latino-owned businesses, as well as veteran-owned companies.

She stated that her recent stint as U.S. Treasurer gave her experience in assisting disadvantaged communities.  Most notably, she served as an advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, helping with the implementation of the “opportunity zones” program created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage investment in economically distressed communities.

Continue reading at:  Piliero Mazza

Jovita Carranza begins as SBA’s 26th Administrator

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On January 14, 2020, Jovita Carranza began serving as the 26th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.  The President nominated Administrator Carranza to lead the SBA while she was serving as the 44th Treasurer of the United States and the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate confirmed her with overwhelmingly bipartisan support on December 19, 2019, and January 7, 2020, respectively.  Administrator Carranza, an Illinois native, becomes the highest-ranking Latina in the federal government with this Cabinet-level position.

“I want to thank the President for his confidence in me to be an advocate in the Cabinet for our country’s 30 million small businesses, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to the U.S. Senate for confirming me in a bipartisan fashion,” Administrator Carranza said.  “I look forward to helping elevate female entrepreneurs and our military veterans, expanding access to SBA resources among entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities, and continuing to prioritize disaster relief.”

“I would like to thank former Administrator Linda McMahon for her leadership at the SBA, and the dedicated professionals at the Agency during this transition,” she continued.

Continue reading at: SBA website

NDAA requires Contracting Officers to provide information to unsuccessful offerors for task and delivery orders valued under $5.5 million

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The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has long been used to impose government-wide procurement reforms.  The recently enacted NDAA, signed by President Trump on December 20, 2019, continues this practice, by requiring agencies to provide unsuccessful offerors on smaller dollar task or delivery orders above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold an explanation as to why their proposal was unsuccessful as well as the rationale for the award.

Currently, agencies are not required to provide debriefings to unsuccessful offerors on FAR Part 16 task or delivery orders smaller than $5.5 million, leaving many contractors with no explanation as to why their offers were not successful.  Section 874 of the FY 2020 NDAA requires that Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(6) be amended to provide that, upon request by an unsuccessful offeror, the Contracting Officer on a contract above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold and less than $5.5 million shall “provide a brief explanation as to why such offeror was unsuccessful that includes a summary of the rationale for the award and an evaluation of the significant weak or deficient factors in the offeror’s offer.”

Continue reading at:  Pillsbury

Recent cases indicate viability of False Claims Act liability connected to federal cybersecurity standards

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Government contractors are no strangers to the numerous quality standards and assurances required by the government.  Over the past several years, cybersecurity in federal contracting has emerged as yet another standard to achieve.  While data breaches are big news in the private sector, the issue remained somewhat under the radar for public contracts — until now.

Last summer, two significant whistleblower cases sent ripples through the False Claims Act (FCA) community by demonstrating the specter of FCA liability resulting from the failure to comply with cybersecurity requirements in government contracts.  In May, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California refused to dismiss a case alleging that Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. falsely asserted its compliance with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) cybersecurity standards.  Then, in late July, the government announced that Cisco Systems Inc. agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle a whistleblower suit alleging that the company fell short of federal cybersecurity standards by selling video surveillance products with known vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.  These cases show that cybersecurity-based FCA claims may be the new frontier and that such claims may prove difficult to defeat depending on the facts in any given case.

Continue reading at:  Carlton Fields

Justice Department recovers over $3 billion from False Claims Act cases in FY 2019

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The Department of Justice obtained more than $3 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2019, Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division announced today.  Recoveries since 1986, when Congress substantially strengthened the civil False Claims Act, now total more than $62 billion.

“The significant number of settlements and judgments obtained over the past year demonstrate the high priority this administration places on deterring fraud against the government and ensuring that citizens’ tax dollars are well spent,” said Assistant Attorney General Hunt.  “The continued success of the department’s False Claims Act enforcement efforts are a testament to the tireless efforts of the civil servants who investigate, litigate, and try these important cases as well as to the fortitude of whistleblowers who report fraud.”

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

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