Government Contracts Blog : Government Contracts Lawyer & Attorney : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Bids, Licenses, Awards, Conflict of Interest.

On July 21, 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense ("DOD") issued for comment proposed rules implementing 10 U.S.C. § 2533b, the latest statutory restrictions on DOD purchases of non-domestic specialty metals.  73 Federal Register 42300.

If this topic is of interest to you, please note that these proposed rules are not yet final and DOD is still accepting comments through September 19, 2008.

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Effective July 21, 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense ("DOD") issued an interim rule with a request for comments that creates a contractual obligation for all DOD contractors to comply with U.S. export control laws.  See 73 Federal Register 42274.  While, technically, the interim rule does not impose any new requirement on U.S. businesses, because all are already required to comply with U.S. export requirements, the interim rule does impose additional risks and liabilities on defense contractors because a violation of U.S. export laws could now also result in a breach of contract.  Given the fact that many companies do not fully understand the scope or intricacies of U.S. export laws, inadvertent export violations are a common occurrence.  Accordingly, this new rule could easily increase contractual (and related) risks for DOD contractors.

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