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Guest Author: Robert E. Jones, CPA, CPCM, NCMA Fellow, Left Brain Professionals Background Congress approved multiple COVID-19 relief bills in 2020 to aid businesses and employers struggling with the financial impacts continuing into 2021. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES)…

Where does FAR say that a contracting officer must treat contractors in a fair and equitable way? Where does FAR make contractors part of the “Acquisition Team” and encourage contractors to be involved in the acquisition planning process? Where does FAR deal with the applicability – actually, non-applicability – of…

On December 22, 2020, the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the federal government from enforcing portions of Executive Order 13950 (EO 13950), “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.” We previously summarized this Executive Order, which bans federal contractors from…

In September, the district courts in the Rocket Docket began to carefully resume operations that had been suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The courts resumed criminal jury trials using a modified process with altered courtrooms that allowed for sufficient social distancing throughout the entire process (though it did…

On January 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published its final rule modifying the process by which cap-subject H-1B visas will be allotted.  The H-1B is an employment-based nonimmigrant visa for workers in specialty occupations, which typically require the worker to have at least a bachelor’s degree (or…

On December 23, 2020, GAO issued its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2020. The Annual Report provides data on the protests filed with the GAO, including a summary of the most common grounds for sustaining protests. GAO received 2,149 cases in FY2020. This figure is relatively…

Update to Blog Posted on June 26, 2020: Latest Presidential Proclamation Frustrates Employment-Based Non-Immigrant Visas On December 31, 2020, President Trump extended the restrictions on entry of individuals in certain employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant visa classifications through March 31, 2021.  The initial proclamation, Proclamation 10014 on April 22, 2020,…

On December 17, 2020, the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously passed the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”). The Act for the first time in D.C. will make void and unenforceable non-compete agreements that are entered into after the effective date of the law.

With all the time and effort a contractor spends on marketing for new opportunities, it’s a shame when a missed opportunity had been previously announced on beta.SAM.gov – twice. We cannot stress enough how important monitoring beta.SAM.gov is. Several months ago, we reported on a GAO decision that concluded…