It's déjà vu all over again for companies that regularly do business with state and local governments: Will the state agency negotiate mutually agreeable indemnification and limitation of liability provisions?
Industry and government have tremendous need for cleared employees, but there are significant barriers to hiring them. The backlog in the government's clearance process only exacerbates the problem.
Contractors soon may need to change the cost and pricing data they supply on government contracts as a result of several recent proposed and interim rules that would increase certain procurement thresholds.
The immense damage Hurricane Katrina did to the Gulf Coast is projected to require the largest reconstruction effort in U.S. history, and there is no doubt that government contractors will play a significant role in the effort. However, navigating through procurement rules and regulations that are rapidly changing to accommodate Katrina reconstruction may not be without risks.
On June 8 the interim Federal Acquisition Regulation rule implementing Section 818 of the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act was published. Section 818 was Congress' response to the Boeing KC-767A Tanker Aircraft acquisition and the related Defense Department inspector general's report that criticized it.
Organizational conflicts of interest are a constant source of concern for both industry and government. Despite guidance offered in the FAR and a long line of Government Accountability Office cases, contractors and agencies struggle with identifying and resolving these conflicts.
Recently, the Small Business Administration issued a final rule to amend its small-business size regulations. Buried in this rule is a potentially confusing requirement for small businesses to provide updated size certifications following certain types of mergers or acquisitions.
The Homeland Security Department has revised its rules on whether contractors can use foreign nationals on its contracts. The new rules clarify the situations in which foreign nationals are precluded from working on DHS contracts, but they also create challenges for many contractors.
