Federal Contracting

While most people are counting down to summer vacation, federal contractors have a different kind of deadline on the calendar. There’s no slowdown on compliance this season. July 24, 2026 is the date by which contracting officers must make every effort to bilaterally modify existing contracts to incorporate FAR 52.222-90, “Addressing DEI Discrimination by...

Article by: Ryan Bradel, Partner Most small business government contractors know the general rule cold: a company’s size for a small business set-aside is determined as of the date of its initial offer. But there are critical exceptions. The most impactful is the one for mentor-protégé joint ventures. Under a rule SBA crafted in...

Article by: Rory Hatch, Associate GAO’s recent sustain, Effective Communication Strategies, LLC; Corps of Engineers, serves as a reminder that contracting officers have an affirmative obligation to give offerors a reasonable opportunity to respond to solicitation amendments, and that a flurry of same-day, weekend, and sub-hour deadlines does not satisfy that obligation. Protest Background...

Article by: Rory Hatch, Associate New Compliance Requirements Are Already Moving On March 26, 2026, President Trump signed a new Executive Order titled “Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors,” directing federal agencies to incorporate new DEI-related compliance obligations into federal contracts. Agencies have 30 days to begin adding a mandatory compliance clause, and the...

Those of us who have spent time working in—or with—the federal government over the past several decades know that government shutdowns are not entirely uncommon.  There have actually been a total of 21 government shutdowns over the past 50 years, with the last occurring in 2019 and the longest lasting 35 days. By the...

Last chance for Federal Contractors to object to the release of their EEO-1 Reports by OFCCP in response to the Center of Investigative Reporting’s FOIA request. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (“OFCCP”) is giving federal contractors two last chances to respond to its August 19, 2022 Federal Register Notice calling for objections...