The Pentagon finally issued the anticipated new cyber-security standards -- Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) this past week. The new standards, released as Version 1.0 of the CMMC are the first step towards implementing cybersecurity standards into all Defense Department contracts.  Read More

The Office of Management and Budget put out a call last week to the public sector for their feedback on how they think the government can reform its procurement of goods and services. Announced at the White House Summit on Federal Acquisition and Supply Chain Management, the inquiry came amid a discussion between industry professionals and OMB officials, centering on reforms to the government's procurement processes aimed at reducing time and costs associated with acquisitions.  Read More

On September 17, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued over 300 pages of proposed regulations to implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”). This legislation is the first in over a decade to expand the scope of inbound foreign investment subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), and the final regulations will become effective no later than February 13, 2020.  Read More

More companies will be eligible to compete for federal contracts reserved for small businesses, due to the implementation of a 2018 law, now in effect. Recently, the Small Businesses Administration's final rule to implement the 2018 Small Business Runway Extension Act took effect, increasing the period of measuring small businesses' annual revenue from three to five years in the contract evaluation process. Effectively, the rule will increase the size of the pool of eligible participants competing for small business set asides.  Read More

The Procurement Collusion Strike Force, formed late last year by the Justice Department, is designed to educate contractors and procurement officials about bid-rigging, as well as prosecuting offenses. However, some critics predict that efforts by the new group to police bid-rigging and other antitrust violations in government procurement could get off to a rocky start.  Read More

As time was set to run out on stop-gap funding, President Trump signed into law a pair of bills that will set line-by-line funding for every agency in the federal government and provide most with a significant funding boost, avoiding a midnight shutdown. The bills will allocate $1.4 trillion: $738 billion to the military and $632 billion to non-defense agencies, increases over fiscal 2019 of $22 billion for the Pentagon and $27 billion for non-defense.  Read More

Earlier in the month, in a report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office and the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee, surveyed bid protests, suspensions and debarements of federal contractors.  Read More

The NAGC Government Contractor Career Center is offering a sitewide 25 percent discount using the code 9U928KRJ through March 31, 2020. Use to code to post employment opportunities in the field of government procurement, contract management, or agency relations. Job seekers can use the discount for resume assistance and coaching. Browse jobs now on our Government Contractor Career Center.  Read More

The General Services Administration has proposed new rules asking contractors to incorporate security standards in order to protect government information on the IT systems they manage. Last week, in the new requirements were located in a Federal Register post detailing the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, two proposed rules — GSAR Case 2016-G511 and 2016-G515 — call for amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation to include requirements for contractors to safeguard GSA information in a solicitation's statement of work, as well as the procedures for they inform the agency of a potential breach.  Read More

President Donald Trump has signed a stop-gap continuing resolution, delaying the prospects of a government shutdown for four more weeks. The Senate passed the CR early Thursday afternoon with a 74-20 vote. The House easily cleared the measure Tuesday. The president had to take action before 11:59 p.m. on Thursday to avoid a second government shutdown in 2019.  Read More