What Happens In a Shut Down It will happen fast! DoD guidance on the shutdown says it will take them about a half a day to shut down. Government facilities will be closed. The Government will define employees as essential or as non-essential. Essential government employees will be expected to continue working. Non-essential government employees…

The Government Has Banned TikTok The U.S. Government has banned from Government IT systems and Government devices, the TikTok app, or any application created or sold by ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok. The ban applies Government contractors and subcontractors to some degree as well. The ban was issued because of U.S. Government concerns that…

DoD Speaks Again on Inflation Defense contractors have been letting DoD acquisition folks know that inflation is impacting their ability to perform firm fixed price contracts.  So, DoD issued another memo advising contracting officers about a “range of approaches” available to contracting officers when it comes to adjusting firm fixed price contracts in response to…

Overview There are times, when a government employee may ask a contractor to provide supplies or services without a contract; to provide supplies and services for free; or to start performance before a contract is signed. Most contractors will do so since they are relying on the guidance of those in the government on how…

Who Am I? A philosophical question that people have asked themselves for centuries is, “Who am I?” A big question that arguably we spend our lives trying to answer but never really get there. A question that is closely related to “Who am I” that you may be asking of your business is, “Am I…

Today I had to deliver unwelcome news to a client – it is costly to do this. There are essentially two buckets of costs when a lawyer delivers unwelcome news: The cost of the lawyer’s time – borne by the client The cost of a broken heart – borne by the lawyer. Read on for…

Defense contracting…not for the faint of heart for a number of reasons.  Two that always jump to my mind: Defense contractors are on the front line of our national security, which if you think about it, it is sobering. ALL – THE – REGULATIONS. Combining these two means that if a defense contractor fails to…

Thoughts of suspension and debarment bring to my mind Bobby Darin’s song, Call Me Irresponsible: Call me irresponsible Yes I’m unreliable Why?  Because acquisition regulations require federal government contractors to be “responsible” businesses and the Uniform Guidance regulations require the same of non-profits and other entities that are awarded federal government cooperative agreements and federal…