On Wednesday, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) announced that its expanded pay-to-play rules will cover municipal advisors, including third-party solicitors, as of August 17, 2016.
As we noted previously and discussed during Covington’s Corporate Political Activity & Government Affairs Compliance Conference earlier this month, the MSRB has been drafting an expansion to its pay-to-play…
Industry eagerly awaits further guidance from data protection authorities (“DPAs”) relating to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield as well as on the validity (or otherwise) of other mechanisms for transfers to the U.S. such as standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) and binding corporate rules (“BCRs”). As we explained in recent posts (here and here), publication…
The Department of Defense (DoD) is considering a proposed rule that would prevent defense contractors from promising future Independent Research & Development (IR&D) investments as a way to gain a competitive price advantage in DoD procurements. Although DoD’s rulemaking is in its early stages, defense contractors with substantial IR&D programs should monitor these developments closely,…
On February 11, 2016, the Government Accountability Office publicly released its recommendation sustaining the protest by ASM Research of a task order award by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to Booz Allen Hamilton. GAO determined that the VA failed to adequately consider a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI) of the awardee based on…
President Obama unveiled on February 9, 2015 his Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), a combination of near-term actions and long-term strategy to “enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections, protect privacy, maintain public safety as well as economic and national security, and empower Americans to take better control of their digital security.” In conjunction with this unveiling,…
As the currency crisis plaguing Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 continued through the recent holidays, Nigerians have learned that they can have their naira, but they can’t spend it too. Nigerians saw several restrictions on foreign exchange (“forex”) put in place, limiting what they could do with their naira. Triggered by the dive in oil prices…
Almost one year after the amendments to the FAR’s anti-human trafficking rule went into effect, Congress is showing signs of bi-partisan support for enforcement of human trafficking prohibitions through the House’s passage of the Trafficking Prevention in Foreign Affairs Contracting Act (H.R. 400) (the “Act”). As we have previously discussed, the Act would require…
On December 22, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) memorandum setting out the Agency’s position on the “Buy America” waiver for steel manufactured products. The decision creates uncertainty as to the proper administration of Buy America requirements, and will likely reduce demand for steel and…
Early last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) caught the attention of investors when it issued a report predicting that Mozambique’s average economic growth rate between 2021-2025 could reach as high as 24 percent per annum and liquefied natural gas projects (LNG) could reach more than 50 percent of the country’s nominal output by the…
Following the announcement of the President’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), an initiative designed to “enhance cybersecurity capabilities within the Federal Government and across the country,” the White House has released a fact sheet outlining the different components of the CNAP. The announcement of the CNAP follows the President’s request for $19 billion in funding…
