After six rounds of voting that saw off seven candidates from across the region, Nigeria’s outgoing Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been elected to serve as the next president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
From the start, Adesina was one of the leading contenders for the role. During…
May 29 marks the first deadline for the 2014 Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad (BE-10 survey). The BE-10 survey is conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (“BEA”) under the authority of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act. Through this survey and other surveys, BEA collects…
On 27 May 2015, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) issued a decision launching a sector inquiry into the supply of vaccines for human use.
The ICA has stated that it has launched the sector inquiry because of:
…
Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a proposed rule to revise (and make stricter) the unique sourcing requirements applicable to certain photovoltaic devices that are used in the performance of DoD contracts. Specifically, unless an exception under the Trade Agreements Act applies or a contractor secures a waiver based on public interest…
A few weeks ago we posted about a new out-of-pocket limit for group health plans that provide family coverage. HHS announced that the ACA cost-sharing limit for self-only coverage applies to each individual who has family coverage. This embedded individual limit is in addition to the existing limit for family coverage, which applies to the…
The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) recently issued its Fourth Annual Report to Congress dated March 25, 2015. Once again, the report shows DCAA is making modest improvements in the timeliness of its audits, and continues to seek regulatory changes that would provide DCAA greater access to contractors’ data, internal audits, and personnel.
Congress began…
The African continent is revolutionizing itself as the place where no infrastructure is no problem. This began in the telecommunications field: Africa lacks a robust system of landlines, which traditionally enable better access to desktop computers, online services, and financial institutions. But the emergence of cellular telephony has allowed individuals across Africa to bypass…
Despite potential vulnerabilities, Hawaii’s pay-to-play law survived a significant challenge in the Ninth Circuit last week. The matter involved an electrical-construction company, its CEO and a second individual who challenged several sections of Hawaii’s campaign finance law, including a requirement that the company register and report its activities once it crossed a $1,000 threshold, and…
It is a welcome development that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has moved closer to reauthorization. However, much more can and should be done through AGOA to strengthen intellectual property (IP) rights in Africa, particularly in the continent’s creative sectors. Africa’s creative sectors have the potential to be key economic drivers and IP…
Earlier this week, the GAO issued a report to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees regarding the Air Force’s compliance with definitization and reporting requirements associated with the use of undefinitized contract actions (“UCAs”). UCAs, which commonly take the form of letter contracts, allow contractors to begin performance and seek payment before all…
