Navigating Bid Protests
Presenters: Pamela Mazza and Jon Williams
An 8(a) Contracting Cautionary Tale’s Final Scene
Many may have fond childhood memories of their parents reading cautionary tales or poems to them before going to bed, such as Hilaire Belloc’s “Rebecca: Who Slammed Doors For Fun and Perished Miserably” or Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.” Like these poems, the stories are usually very funny. Yet, however ludicrous they may be, the writings often teach valuable life lessons without (usually) giving children bad dreams in the process. When one exits . . . Read More
The gTLD Explosion: Changes to Domain Names that All Businesses Should be Aware Of
The universe of domain names within the internet is undergoing radical change and businesses need to be aware of how to navigate in this new world. On June 20, 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), the international non-profit corporation that oversees the domain name system in the internet, approved the launch of its new generic top-level domains (“gTLD”) program dramatically expanding the existing gTLD system. gTLDs are the extensions (i.e., letters or words) that come to the right of the “dot” in a . . . Read More
EEOC Issues New Pregnancy Discrimination Guidelines
On July 14, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in a split decision, issued new guidelines regarding its enforcement of pregnancy discrimination laws. Although the guidance should be carefully reviewed, among the most notable changes is that the EEOC now interprets the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) to require employers to provide reasonable accommodation to employees who have work restrictions due to pregnancy even if the employee does not qualify as disabled or is not regarded as disabled under the Americans with . . . Read More
Attorney-Client Privilege Protects Against Production of Internal Investigations of Fraud
By Katie Flood If you have been worrying about a potential issue related to an audit or False Claims Act (FCA) complaint, but have been nervous to proceed with an internal investigation in case those results should come back damning and later be disclosed a court case, there is good news from the DC Circuit. In a petition filed in the case In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., DC Circuit No. 14-5055 (June 27, 2014), the DC Circuit overturned the . . . Read More
Minimum Wage for Contractor Employees on Fast Track to Your Contracts
At some point in the past few months, you may have heard about Executive Order 13658 (EO), issued on February 12, 2014, wherein President Barack Obama establishes a $10.10 per hour minimum wage for employees of federal contractors and subcontractors by January 2015, adjusted annually thereafter by the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. There is a disagreement about the actual impact the EO will have since most federal contractors and subcontractors subject to the provisions . . . Read More
GAO Affirms Timeline for SBA Approval of Joint Venture Agreements
By Kelly DiGrado The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently affirmed that joint venture (JV) agreements need not be approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA) prior to submission of a proposal for an 8(a) set aside contract. See BGI-Fiore JV, LLC, B-409520 (May 29, 2014). The case arose in the context of a pre-award protest of NASA’s decision to eliminate of BGI-Fiore’s proposal from competition for an 8(a) set aside contract. NASA rejected the proposal of BGI-Fiore, JV, LLC, a JV between . . . Read More
Prompt Payment Act Interest Decreases
Effective July 1, 2014, the Prompt Payment Act (PPA) and Contract Dispute Act (CDA) interest rates have decreased to 2% per annum. See 79 Fed. Reg. 33647 (June 12, 2014). Since 2008, when the PPA and CDA interest rates were as high as 5 5/8 % per annum, the interest rates under the PPA and CDA have trended downward to a low of 1 3/8 % per annum for the first half of 2013. This meant that contractors were recovering next to nothing for . . . Read More
PilieroMazza Legal Advisor – Third Quarter 2014
In this issue; Avoiding Pitfalls with Restrictive Covenants in Employment Contracts What Is Enough Consideration of Small Business Interests? – GAO Denies Protests Against GSA Consolidation of Small Business Contracts SBA Proposes New Regulations Which Permit Advisory Small Business Size Decisions
Be more. Do more. Advancing the Missions of Others through Community Service
By Kimi Murakami What can you do to give back to the community? What do you have to offer others? Law firms with a conscious, like PilieroMazza, encourage their employees to ask themselves these questions and to participate in giving back to their communities through pro bono services, financial donations, participation of their time and other resources to causes that they believe in. The platforms for giving back to the community take on a variety of forms at PilieroMazza. Finding . . . Read More