Law360 Quotes Nichole Atallah on the Employment Status of Civil Detainees and Minimum Wage Rules
Nichole Atallah , a Partner in the Labor & Employment Group at PilieroMazza , discussed with Law360 the specifics of a Ninth Circuit case regarding the employment status of civil immigration detainees and the impact this case could have on federal government contractors working in this space. The central issue is whether immigrant detainees performing services at the detention center managed by a federal government contractor should be classified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In this case, the Service Contract Act and related minimum wage . . . Read More
Weekly Update for Government Contractors and Commercial Businesses – March 16, 2023
If you have questions concerning the content below, please visit this link . Upcoming Events: Register to attend PilieroMazza’s upcoming events here . Recent Thought Leadership: Check out PilieroMazza’s recent client alerts and blogs here . GovCon Live! Podcast: Listen to PilieroMazza’s Podcast Series “Commercial Businesses New to Government Contracting” here . GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS Crackdown on Pandemic Fraud: Impact on Small Business Government Contractors, 03.13.23, Cy Alba and Dozier Gardner On March 2, 2023, the White House announced that President Biden intends to ask Congress for $1.6 billion to combat . . . Read More
Why the Content of a Contractor’s Joint Venture Agreement Matters
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) joint venture (JV) regulations allow large businesses to perform set-aside contracts with their small business protégés and allow small businesses to pool their resources and experience to compete for set-aside work they would not independently qualify for. However, these JVs must strictly comply with SBA’s JV regulations. Among other things, this means each JV must have a JV agreement (JVA) that checks a litany of regulatory boxes. A recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals . . . Read More
Department of Commerce Adds 6 China-Based Entities to Export Administration Regulations List
Department of Commerce Adds 6 China-Based Entities to Export Administration Regulations List On February 14, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ( 15 C.F.R. §§ 730 et seq. ) list ( Entity List ) by adding six China-based entities. The Biden Administration determined that those six entities were conducting business contrary to U.S. national security and / or foreign policy interests. Government contractors should be cautious when doing business with the following entities: Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology; . . . Read More
Crackdown on Pandemic Fraud: Impact on Small Business Government Contractors
On March 2, 2023, the White House announced that President Biden intends to ask Congress for $1.6 Billion to combat ongoing fraud related to COVID relief programs, referred to as “pandemic fraud.” This comes in the wake of “historic” levels of fraud that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, the full extent of which is still not fully known. In the White House’s announcement, it notes that the requested $1.6 Billion will be for President Biden’s three-part Pandemic Anti-Fraud proposal. These three . . . Read More
Weekly Update for Government Contractors and Commercial Businesses – March 10, 2023
If you have questions concerning the content below, please visit this link . Upcoming Events: Register to attend PilieroMazza’s upcoming events here . Recent Thought Leadership: Check out PilieroMazza’s recent client alerts and blogs here . GovCon Live! Podcast: Listen to PilieroMazza’s Podcast Series “Commercial Businesses New to Government Contracting” here . LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION The FCA at the Supreme Court, Part 2 of 4: Addressing the Standard for Knowingly Submitting a False Claim, 03.07.23, Matt Feinberg and Annie Hudgins The False Claims Act (FCA) is seeing quite . . . Read More
JD Supra Recognizes PilieroMazza as a Top Law Firm for Government Contracting Content
JD Supra’s 2023 Readers Choice Awards recognizes PilieroMazza as the “Top Government Contracting Firm” for its consistently high readership and engagement numbers among its subscribers. Attorneys Isaias “Cy” Alba, IV , and Kevin Barnett , members of the Firm’s Government Contracts Group , were also listed in the top ten authors for government contracting content from a pool of over 2,000 authors writing about all aspects of government contracting. This is Cy’s third year on the top ten list. “Our attorneys take pride in the content we produce for the government contracting community,” remarked . . . Read More
The FCA at the Supreme Court, Part 2 of 4: Addressing the Standard for Knowingly Submitting a False Claim
The False Claims Act (FCA) is seeing quite a bit of action at the Supreme Court this term, with multiple cases under consideration. This is the second installment in PilieroMazza’s blog series on “The FCA at the Supreme Court,” where we will examine active cases, comment on decisions once they are issued, and discuss ways defendants can protect themselves in FCA litigation. Part 1 of the series is available here . On January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court agreed to consider . . . Read More
Bloomberg Law: Cy Alba Discusses Debt Default’s Negative Impact on Government Contractors
Federal contractors would be among the first to experience serious financial consequences in the event Congress fails to raise the debt limit and government agencies can’t pay their bills as the fiscal year ends. . . . As a result, vendors [government contractors], particularly those with low cash reserves, would see dwindling bank accounts and be forced to take immediate action to stanch losses. Labor Concerns One common response to payment stoppages is for contractors to furlough or lay off . . . Read More
8 Key Takeaways from DOJ’s Annual Report on Fraud and the False Claims Act
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . .” Charles Dickens’ famous line from A Tale of Two Cities may have been echoing in the ears of Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys a bit over the last month. On February 7, 2023, DOJ issued its annual report on fraud and False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries for fiscal year 2022. After the agency recovered over $5.6 Billion in fiscal year 2021, the annual report disclosed what . . . Read More