Government Contracts

‘Ban the Box’ Hiring Law Applies to Federal Contractors As of December 20, 2021, federal contractors can no longer inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before extending a conditional job offer to work on a government contract. This does not preclude federal contractors from asking an applicant about criminal history after a conditional offer...

OSHA Suspends Enforcement of COVID-19 Vaccination-or-Test Requirement On Thursday, November 4, 2021, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard(ETS), which requires employers with more than 100 employees to mandate their workers are fully vaccinated or test at least weekly for COVID-19....

DOD REVAMPS CYBERSECURITY MATURITY MODEL CERTIFICATION (“CMMC”) ROBUST ENFORCEMENT LIKELY USING THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT CMMC Program Overview The CMMC program enhances cyber protection standards for companies in the Defense Industrial Base. It is designed to protect sensitive unclassified information that is shared by the Department of Defense (“DoD”) with its contractors and subcontractors....

In mid-October 2021, OFAC issued sanctions compliance guidance (the “OFAC Guidance”) for the virtual currency industry, including tech companies, exchanges, administrators, miners, crypto wallet providers, and even users. OFAC issued the guidance to help the virtual currency industry mitigate the risks of transacting cryptocurrencies with a sanctioned country, entity, or individual. OFAC is the...

Congressional Democrats Seek Increased Oversight Into Crypto Matters Following Ransomware Attacks A group of Democratic senators and congressmen are calling on the Department of Justice, the State Department, the Department of the Treasury, and Homeland Security to beef up efforts to protect against the recent wave of ransomware attacks. The group, comprised of senators...

On October 6, 2021, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (the “Initiative”) to combat cyber threats, specifically to sensitive information and critical systems of the United States Government (USG). In launching the Initiative, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco made clear that a primary focus of the Initiative is to...