Negotiating the Landlord Services Provision of Your Office Lease
In negotiating an office lease, business owners should pay particularly close attention to the provisions detailing the services that the landlord will be required to provide and the terms and conditions regarding those services. Business owners often have significant negotiating power with respect to such provisions, and therefore have the potential to custom-fit the services that the landlord will be required to provide to the specific needs of their business. Landlord services that business owners should consider include: Heating and . . . Read More
Understanding the Impact of SBA’s New ITVAR Size Rule
Presented by Jon Williams and Cy Alba
Employer Policy Critical to Defense Against FMLA Liability
A well-crafted employer policy, and whether it was followed, is often just as important to the outcome of a dispute with an employee as the law itself. This is why attorneys constantly trumpet the need to update policies regularly and abide by them. There is no better example of this than a case recently decided by United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In Graziadio v. Culinary Institute of America, et al., No. 13-cv-1082 (NSR) (S.D.N.Y . . . Read More
The Weekly Update for April 8, 2016
SMALL BUSINESS Clauses With Alternates—Small Business Programs GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS Prohibition on Use of Any Cost-Plus System This week’s report follows, click here if you would like to download a copy . SMALL BUSINESS Clauses With Alternates—Small Business Programs The Department of Defense (DOD) issued a final rule amending DFARS to clarify clauses and their prescriptions for small business programs and to create basic and alternate clauses structured in a manner to facilitate use of automated contract writing systems. This final rule provides the basic clause at 252.219-7003, Small Business Subcontracting Plan in full text . . . Read More
Increased Suspensions and Debarments Bring Challenges for Small Business Contractors
By Alex Levine Newly released Department of Defense statistics show that the number of suspension and debarment actions initiated by defense agencies continue to rise, in some cases significantly. For example, in fiscal year 2015, the Army issued 456 debarments–a one year increase of 63 percent over the prior year. These numbers are indicative of a larger and continuing trend amongst federal agencies. Such agencies have increased their scrutiny on government contractors, resulting in greater suspension and debarment actions. Commentators . . . Read More
CBCA Expands its Approval of Subcontractors’ “Sponsored” Claims
By Julia Di Vito Typically, a subcontractor cannot appeal a Contract Disputes Act (“CDA”) claim to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (“CBCA”) because the subcontractor lacks privity of contract with the government. However, the CBCA allows subcontractors’ claims to be “sponsored” by the prime contractor, whereby the prime contractor files a CDA claim on behalf of the subcontractor, and later appeals it to the CBCA. Thus, even if the subcontractor is the party who has been damaged by the . . . Read More
10 Signs That a Contract May Give Rise to an OCI
By Michelle Litteken As many contractors are all too aware, OCI stands for “organizational conflict of interest.” An OCI arises when, because of other relationships or circumstances, a contractor may (1) be unable to render impartial advice or assistance to the government, (2) be unable to objectively perform contract work, or (3) have an unfair competitive advantage. An OCI can lead to disqualification from a procurement, termination of an existing contract, or sanctions. Given the severity of these potential consequences, . . . Read More
The Weekly Update for March 25, 2016
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Interpretation of the “Advice” Exemption This week’s report follows, click here if you would like to download a copy . DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Interpretation of the “Advice” Exemption The Office of Labor-Management Standards of the Department of Labor (Department’) is revising the Form LM-20 Agreement, Activities Report and the Form LM-10 Employer Report in response to its June 21, 2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the NPRM, the Department proposed to revise its interpretation of the advice exemption in section 203(c) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) . . . Read More
Update to SBA’s New ITVAR Size Rule
Back in February, we wrote about SBA’s new size rule for IT value-added resellers (“ITVARs”) and the major ramifications of the new rule. The rule requires ITVARs to comply with the nonmanufacturer rule when reselling IT products to the federal government under NAICS code 541519, footnote 18, which has a size standard of 150 employees. This was a 180-degree turnaround from SBA’s prior position on ITVARs, which were not previously required to comply with the nonmanufacturer rule. The upshot of the new rule is that ITVARs performing . . . Read More
U.S. Supreme Court’s Upcoming Ruling on False Claims Act Case May Have Major Impact on Government Contractors
By Ambi Biggs The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments next month in a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case that could significantly broaden the scope of the statute and resolve a split among the U.S. Circuit Courts. If the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of an implied theory of certification, government contractors across the country could be held liable for violating the FCA by breaching regulations and contractual provisions to which they never certified that . . . Read More