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

If you are a company that has received funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (also known as “ARRA,” “the Recovery Act” or “the Stimulus Act”) and that has a requirement to report the data required under the Act (under FAR 52.204-11 and Section 1512 of the Act), you have until the end of this week (October 10, 2009) to report this data through the new website www.federalreporting.gov.
 

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Stimulus projects are likely to come with a thick string of transparency and accountability requirements, along with potentially severe financial penalties and, in some cases, possible prison time. These conditions may be extended not only to U.S. government contractors, but to companies undertaking federally funded projects for state and local governments.

Companies that plan to accept money from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) should consider acting now to prepare for an especially demanding environment. Investing time, effort, and resources today to establish and improve risk management and compliance processes and controls can help companies mitigate potentially catastrophic problems later.

Learn more by reading the complete paper authored by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services partner, Donna Epps, and Sheppard Mullin Government Contracts partner, John Chierichella, available through the following link.

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Recently, contractors have begun receiving formal requests for information from the Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”). The purported purpose of these requests is to “[o]btain an understanding of the management control environment” of major government contractors. In pursuit of this goal, DCAA has crafted a letter that demands, among other things, the following:

• A list of all ethics training, copies of agendas, and attendee lists
   
• Copies of the company’s written Codes of Conduct, copies of the policies dealing with communications of the Code, and a list of employees who have acknowledged receiving the Code over the past 12 months
   
• A list of all violations of the Code over the past 12 months
   
• All “noncompliances” reported through the contractor’s internal control system (such as a hotline) within the past 12 months
   
• A “company-wide list of any current open investigations”

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The final rule mandating E-Verify for federal contractors became effective on September 8, 2009. The lawsuit that stayed implementation of E-Verify since January ended with the district court’s granting of the Government’s motion for summary judgment. As long as Congress continues to fund E-Verify, it should remain a permanent fixture of federal procurement.

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In early July, we discussed that fact that Taiwan would soon be an approved country of origin for purposes of the Trade Agreements Act.  This was, in our view, good news and a welcome development.

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As part of the much ballyhooed Stimulus Act signed into law on February 17, 2009 (discussed in detail here), Congressman Lawrence “Larry” Kissell (D-NC) introduced an amendment titled, “the Berry Amendment Extension Act,” which placed domestic source restrictions on the purchase of certain fabric and textile products by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). See Pub. L. No. 111-5, § 604 (codified at 6 U.S.C. § 453b).

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In July 2008, DOD proposed revisions to the Specialty Metals rules, hoping to finally calm the turbulence that has boiled up over the past three years in this area. On July 29, 2009, after more than a year of stolid deliberation, DOD issued final rules implementing the latest statutory revisions from January 2008. See 74 Federal Register 37626.
 

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