November 2016

On October 15, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council), issued a proposed rule to clarify contracting officer and agency responsibilities when justifying sole source awards exceeding $22 million dollars made through the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program.  The revisions directly address recommendations from a December 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled, “Slow Start…

In just five short weeks, the 115th Congress will convene in Washington.  Now that Republicans control majorities in both houses and the White House, Republican leaders hope to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn regulations issued by the Obama Administration over the past few months.  According to a recent Congressional Research Service review,…

The surprising victory of Francois Fillon

Since 27 November, the favorite to become the next French President in the Spring 2017 election is Francois Fillon, someone nobody a month ago would have given any serious chance to get to the limelight. He received more than 2/3 of the votes in the second round of the…

U.S. and Israeli defense industries are anxious for details of a ten-year, $38.8 billion military assistance package that was signed in Washington this past September. Whether the terms of the aid package are upended entirely or left mostly unchanged by the current incoming administration will have far reaching consequences on future U.S. and Israeli government…

Last week the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) upheld a broad interpretation of the concept of “information that relates to emissions into the environment” that EU and Member State authorities (e.g., ECHA, EFSA, Commission, national environmental agencies) must disclose to the public.  According to the CJEU, the information that must be disclosed…

Corporations, trade associations, and others who interact with federal executive branch employees should be aware of the Office of Government Ethics’ (OGE) recent amendments to the executive branch gift rules, which go into effect on January 1, 2017. Seeking to encourage transparency and advance public confidence in the integrity of federal officials, OGE redefined some…

Federal contractors who require employees to sign confidentiality agreements—including those selling only commercial products or in small quantities—need to examine their agreements closely. For the last two years, the government has sought to prohibit confidentiality agreements that restrict employees’ ability to report fraud, waste, or abuse to “designated investigative or law enforcement representative[s]” for federal…

On November 15, 2016, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its final guidance providing engineering-based solutions to protect cyber-physical systems and systems-of-systems, including the Internet of Things (IoT), against a wide range of disruptions, threats, and other hazards.  NIST Special Publication 800-160 (the “Guidance”) is the result of four years of research…