Hiring of Former Government Officials

By: Anne B. Perry

On November 21, 2011, GAO issued a rather surprising decision in which it overturned an agency’s determination that an appearance of impropriety justified the termination of a contract award. Specifically, in VSE Corp., B-404833, November 21, 2011, GAO rejected the Contracting Officer’s determination that VSE’s use of the former government Deputy Project Manager (“DPM”) as a consultant to assist VSE in preparing its proposal created an appearance of impropriety that so tainted the procurement as to justify the termination of the contract. Continue Reading Just Give Me The Facts: GAO Overturns Army Disqualification Of Awardee

On January 15, 2009, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) to implement Section 847 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.[i]  The interim rule, codified principally at DFARS 203.171 and implemented by a new mandatory contract clause at DFARS 252.203-7000, requires certain former DoD procurement officials to obtain – and requires DoD contractors to ensure that those former DoD procurement officials have obtained – an ethics opinion prior to their receipt of compensation from such contractors.[ii]


[i]               74 Fed. Reg. 2408 (Jan. 15, 2009)

[ii]               DFARS 203.171-3(a), (b); DFARS 252.203-7000(b).

 Continue Reading DoD Issues Interim Rule Requiring Contractors to Ensure That Former DoD Procurement Officials Have Obtained a Pre-Hire Ethics Opinion