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The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA” or “Act”) includes changes that could make the Department of Defense (“DoD”) a more effective and knowledgeable purchaser of Intellectual Property (“IP”) and promote more flexible IP acquisition strategies. These same changes also could encourage Contracting Officers to insist on broader IP rights and delivery requirements. While it has always been important for contractors to protect their IP (click here for our list of “Top 10 Ways to Lose Rights in Your IP”), with the passage of the 2018 NDAA, avoiding the loss of valuable IP rights could require even more sophistication and vigilance.
Continue Reading Contractors Beware: The 2018 NDAA Ushers In New Changes Affecting IP Rights

Section 820 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (“NDAA”) establishes a new Defense Cost Accounting Standards Board (“D-CASB”) to oversee the application of the Cost Accounting Standards (“CAS”) to defense contracts. The amendments made by Section 820 shall take effect on October 1, 2018.
Continue Reading Defense Contractors to Face New Cost Accounting Oversight with Creation of Defense Cost Accounting Standards Board

Note:  This post was originally published in the April 2017 issue of the National Defense Industrial Association’s National Defense magazine.

Over the last few years, both the Department of Defense and Congress have been pursuing innovation in defense-related technologies, processes or methods — including research and development — from a variety of sources and through a variety of procurement techniques and strategies.

In the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by then-President Barack Obama December 23, Congress continued its expansion of acquisition authorities designed to promote contracting for defense innovation.…

Continue Reading Defense Contracting Innovation in State of Flux

On May 18, 2016, the Department of Defense issued Conforming Change 2 of the “National Industrial Security Operating Manual” (“NISPOM”).   NISPOM Change 2 requires all U.S. government contractors who require access to U.S. classified information to implement an Insider Threat Program (“ITP”) that will gather, integrate and report relevant information related to potential or actual insider threats among cleared employees by November 30, 2016. Insider threats – a growing phenomenon – arise when employees or contractors exploit legitimate access to an organization’s data for unauthorized or malicious purposes. Much of the impetus for the new rule appears to be a valid concern about large-scale thefts of classified data, as exemplified by Edward Snowden’s release of a vast trove of sensitive documents stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency.
Continue Reading Insider Threat Programs – A New Challenge for Cleared Contractors

On January 7, 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD” or “the Department”) released an update for DoD Instruction 5000.02, on the “Operation of the Defense Acquisition Service.”  The new Instruction is designed to assist acquisition personnel in tailoring the acquisition process to the specific item or system being purchased and to further the Department’s Better Buying Power initiative, launched in 2010.  The Instruction focuses largely on the acquisition of DoD-specific software and weapons systems.
Continue Reading Department of Defense Updates Its Instruction for Acquisitions of Software and Weapons Systems

The federal government sector has been abuzz lately with whispers and shouts about pending cybersecurity regulations, frameworks, and requirements. This attention is not particularly surprising, especially given the recent high-profile data breaches, the litigation threats surrounding those breaches, the recent identification of the encryption-disabling, consumer data threatening “Heartbleed SSL” OpenSSL vulnerability, and recent reports that the September 2013 cyber-incursion into the U.S. Navy’s Intranet network could have been prevented with the proper security contracting mechanism.  Notably, however, while these stories – and the resultant damages that these stories’ topics leave in their wake – remain in the headlines, Congress has yet to act (and according to Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), will likely not be acting anytime soon). By contrast, the Executive branch, and especially the FTC, is in a full-on sprint and tackling cybersecurity wherever it can be found.
Continue Reading The Cybersecurity Race: Executive Branch Takes The Lead While Congress Watches From The Bleachers