Members have two more weeks of legislative business before the scheduled Memorial Day break with much work to be done before then.
The Senate returns to work on Monday and resumes its consideration of appropriations bills, although it will start the week by voting on a judicial nomination. Having finished the Energy & Water bill…
The Department of Defense (DoD) is considering a proposed rule that would help contractors protect their technical data rights in privately-developed commercial items that are incorporated into major systems, including major weapons systems. The proposed rule likely will be welcomed news to the defense industry, which has long sought to defend contractors’ intellectual property rights…
On May 12, 2016, EU Advocate General (“AG”) Manuel Campus Sanchez-Bordona issued an Opinion in Case C-582/14 Patrick Breyer v Germany, which is pending before the EU’s highest court (the Court of Justice). The Court is not legally bound by this Opinion, but in practice often follows the opinions of its Advocate Generals in its…
Since the Xi administration’s pledge during the Fourth Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2014 to promote the rule of law (or, as the ambiguous language was interpreted by many, “rule by law”), China has issued a number of final and draft laws and regulations of significance to…
DoD, GSA, and NASA published a definition of “recruitment fees” for purposes of FAR 52.222-50 in today’s Federal Register. As we have previously discussed, the anti-trafficking requirements in FAR 52.222-50 were amended almost a year and a half ago to prohibit contractors from charging employees recruitment fees, without defining such fees. Subsequent efforts…
There is considerable turmoil in several Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. To gain some insight into what lies ahead in our southern hemisphere and the likely impact on business in the area, Global Policy Watch (GPW) spoke with Dr. Arturo Valenzuela, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and Georgetown…
The IRS announced that some taxpayers may have been erroneously assessed failure to deposit penalties after an IRS system error failed to account for the April 15, 2016, holiday in Washington, D.C. The holiday moved the deadline for payroll tax deposit to April 18, 2016. However, some taxpayers who timely deposited payroll taxes by the…
Members return to Capitol Hill this week after a one-week break and settle in for three weeks of legislative business before the scheduled Memorial Day recess. The Senate is still working to find a path forward on the Energy and Water Appropriations measure for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 and other FY 2017 spending bills, while…
On May 3, 2016, the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (“RRB”) issued an interim final rule adjusting civil False Claims Act (“FCA”) and Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act (“PFCRA”) monetary penalty amounts for the RRB. The interim final rulemaking resulted in an increase of the PFCRA maximum to $10,781 and a new FCA range of $10,781-$21,563. …
On May 4, the Labor Department and Federal Acquisition Regulatory (“FAR”) Council submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) their final versions of regulations and guidance (respectively) implementing Executive Order 13673, entitled “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” (“FPSW Order”). The FPSW Order, which requires contractors bidding on government contracts to…
