Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

DoD releases long-awaited final rule imposing cybersecurity obligations on Defense contractors

By

US DoD logoOn October 21, 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued its long-awaited Final Rule — effective immediately — imposing safeguarding and cyber incident reporting obligations on defense contractors whose information systems process, store, or transmit covered defense information (CDI).

The Final Rule has been years in the making and is the culmination of an initial rule issued in November 2013, two interim rules published in August 2015 and December 2015, and years of comments and experience by DoD and its contractors.  The new Rule materially alters the predecessor rule in a number of respects and clarifies several important issues relating to contracting for cloud computing services.

To see key substantive changes in the final rule, click this link: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/10/cybersecurity-update-dod-releases-long-awaited-final-rule/

To see a full analysis of the new Rule by Covington & Burling, LLP, click this link: https://www.cov.com/-/media/files/corporate/publications/2016/10/department_of_defense_issues_final_rule-network_penetration_reporting_and_contracting_for_cloud_services.pdf

5 steps to compliance with the fair pay and safe workplaces rules

By

The much-anticipated so-called federal contractor “blacklisting” rules and guidance (“Final Rule” and “Guidance”) were published in the federal register on August 25, 2016. The Final Rule becomes effective on October 25, 2016 and imposes four new legal obligations on covered federal contractors, which will be phased in over the next year (starting as early as October 25, 2016).

It is important to also note that this is being phased in via Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) solicitation and contract provisions. This means that the Final Rule “becomes effective” by beginning to appear in new solicitations issued on or after October 25, 2016. This should not dampen a company’s concern and speed of progressing through the steps below and determining and pursuing compliance, but it is critical to understand and follow the specific path of obligation.

  • First, federal contractors will have to disclose “labor law decisions” both before and after contract award. The federal government will use these disclosures in making their “responsibility” determinations – the determination of whether the contractor is a responsible source to whom a contract may be awarded.
  • Second, contractors must give a wage statement to employees containing for each workweek the number of hours worked, the number of overtime hours, rate of pay, and additions to and from gross pay, and total gross pay.
  • Third, contractors must provide written notice to independent contractors informing them that they are independent contractors and not employees.
  • Fourth, contractors can no longer enter into agreements with employees or independent contractors that require arbitration of claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (includes discrimination and retaliation claims based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin) or sexual harassment claims.

Federal contractors will need to become quick studies of the Final Rule and Guidance in order to begin developing procedures to ensure compliance as these requirements phase in over the next year.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.directemployers.org/2016/09/20/five-steps-compliance-fair-pay-safe-workplaces-final-rule/

Federal contractor paid sick leave regulations finalized

By

paid-sick-leave-regulations-oct-2016The Labor Department’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) has released final regulations implementing mandatory paid sick leave for employees working on federal service, construction, and concessions contracts.

The costs are likely to come both from the paid sick leave itself (a maximum of seven days per year) and from the layers of complexity on top of contractors’ existing compliance obligations with respect to these types of contracts.

The regulations overlap with WHD’s responsibility for oversight of the Service Contract Labor Standards (commonly known as the Service Contract Act, or SCA), which is already a complicated compliance undertaking for employers.

Keep reading this article to see a summary of the highlights of the final regulations and flag issues for contractors to consider before the regulations take effect in January 2017: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/10/paid-sick-leave-final-regulations-released/

Minimum wage for federal contractors updated; paid sick leave rule coming

By

DOLThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published the minimum wage rate to be paid to workers performing on or in connection with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors.  Beginning January 1, 2017, federal contractors must pay covered workers at least $10.20 per hour. In addition, covered tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered federal contracts must be paid a cash wage of at least $6.80 per hour.

The Executive Order was originally signed February 12, 2014, and it permits the Secretary of Labor to adjust this amount each year.   The notice and an updated Worker Rights poster are available here.

Meanwhile, the rule effectuating Executive Order 13706, which requires certain federal contractors and subcontractors to provide their workers with up to seven days of paid sick leave annually, has completed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review process, according to Politico.

Under the rule as proposed, employees may use paid sick days for themselves, for a sick family member, or for absences related to sexual assault, domestic abuse, or stalking.

The Executive Order requires DOL to publish a final rule implementing the Order by September 30, 2016.

A sobering take on government contractors

By

failures-of-govt-contractors-09-2016I recently had a chance to hear a small informal presentation by an executive with decades of high-level industry experience in the government contracting market, and who is very respected in the community. His remarks were sobering, and I took a chance to follow up with him after his presentation to get more meat on the bones of his discussion.

He started his presentation by asserted that no traditional government contractors had established any position to speak of in the market for cloud computing, arguably the biggest tech management shift of the past decade. Instead, Amazon Web Services, with no presence in the federal market, stole the market from under their noses. Very few government contractors had even explored entering this market.

Why, I asked? “Government contractors don’t think that way,” the executive replied. “They are very focused on government RFPs, responding to things the government puts out. That keeps them busy. But it makes them very unlike Silicon Valley companies and venture capitalists that are constantly scanning the market for new tech trends and developments. When Amazon concluded there was a potential huge market in cloud computing, they poured huge amounts of their own money into developing an infrastructure. Government contractors don’t think that way either. They don’t want to risk large amounts of their own money.”

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2016/09/kelman-contractor-outlook.aspx

Obama pushes contractors to be greener, more worker-friendly

By

Dept. of LaborThe Obama administration has finalized plans to bring more scrutiny to potential federal contractors’ histories of violating labor laws, releasing twin final regulations that will publish Thursday to implement a 2014 executive order.

A final rule from the Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA, and final guidance from the Labor Department, will implement President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order to boost transparency of contractors’ compliance with labor laws. It will require agencies’ contracting officers to give greater consideration to such violations.

The rule will go into effect Oct. 25 with its provisions phased in over the next two years. Labor estimated in 2014 the order would affect 24,000 businesses employing 28 million workers. In its final rule, the administration estimated contractors would spend $458 million complying with the new regulations in its first year, while the government would spend an additional $16 million.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/08/obama-pushes-contractors-be-greener-more-worker-friendly/131020/

Contracting News

Read More

Contracting Tips

Read More

GTPAC News

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Read More