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

By Peter Menard

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”) became law on July 21, 2010. A primary purpose of the Act is to further incentivize whistleblowers to report potential violations of federal securities laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), to the SEC. Section 922 of the Act requires the SEC to pay whistleblowers an award, between 10-30%, for original information about a violation that leads to a successful action resulting in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. The Act therefore provides yet another set of liabilities for government contractors doing business internationally, and creates a whole new class of would-be private attorneys general attempting to enforce the FCPA.

For a further discussion of the Act and its implications, click here to read Sheppard Mullin partner Peter Menard's recently published article, "The Dodd Frank Act: A Guide to the Corporate Governance, Executive Compensation, and Disclosure Provisions."  This article appears in Business Law News, Published by the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California.

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By David S. Gallacher

While Vice President Biden was busy touting Summer 2010 as the “Summer of Recovery” and the economic effects of the February 2009 Stimulus Act (a.k.a. the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Recovery Act, ARRA, the Stimulus Act, etc.), the gears of the regulatory process ground steadily onward. Throughout the summer, the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued updated policy guidance implementing the ARRA requirements, and the rule-makers in the FAR Councils remained hard at work updating and (hopefully) finalizing the regulations implementing the finer details of the Recovery Act. Despite the fact that the ARRA funding officially expired on September 30, 2010 (meaning that any unobligated ARRA funds will now revert to the federal treasury to be saved or spent another day), the Government spent its summer fine-tuning the regulations. As the sun begins to set on the Recovery Act, and as the Summer of Recovery fades into the past, we summarize here some of the key features of the final Recovery Act rules promulgated over the last few months. 
 

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By Keith R. Szeliga

On July 8, 2010, the FAR Councils issued an interim rule, effective immediately, that requires contractors to report information regarding executive compensation and first-tier subcontract awards. See 75 Fed. Reg. 39414. The interim rule implements the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (“FFATA”) (Pub. L. No. 109-282), as amended by the Government Funding Transparency Act of 2008 (“GFTA”) (Pub. L. No. 110-252). In accordance with the requirements of FFATA and GFTA, the Government will disseminate the information reported under the interim rule – including the names and total compensation of the contractor’s five most highly compensated executives – to the general public via the USASpending.gov website.
 

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