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Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acquisitions are about to get a lot more attention – from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and possibly Congress, as well. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report (GAO-19-157SP) updating its “High Risk List,” which lists 35 government agencies and programs that may be particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, adding “VA Acquisition Management” to the list of the usual suspects. If, as Aesop opined, “a man is known by the company he keeps,” then the VA has now joined a notorious group. VA vendors should be aware of this development, because any attempt by the VA to “get well” will likely come with heightened compliance obligations for VA vendors.
Continue Reading VA Vendors Beware: Mind the Company You Keep; It’s Time for a Compliance Checkup

You no doubt have heard by now about GSA’s 23 June effort to “embrace  modern  technology while moving away from outmoded practices” – specifically, its implementation of the new Transactional Data Reporting Rule (“TDR Rule”) and its concurrent elimination of the Price Reductions Clause (“PRC”) and the Commercial Sales Practices Format (“CSPF”).  See 81 Fed. Reg. 41104 (June 23, 2016). The new rule covers certain GSA Multiple Award Schedules as well as the Agency’s GWAC and IDIQ contracts.   As it represents the most significant change to the GSA MAS program since  1994  (when  GSA  removed  federal  sales  as  a PRC trigger), the new rule has the potential to change significantly the way Schedule contractors (and others) do  business;  hence,  my  willingness  to  interrupt  your otherwise enjoyable day with a treatise on GSA Schedule contracting.
Continue Reading Price Reductions Are Dead; Long Live Price Reductions

Not enough Government contracts blogs incorporate movie trivia.  So here’s my contribution to fill this obvious gap in the procurement blogosphere:  Is the following quotation (a) from a famous Monty Python skit or (b) from a conversation between two Government auditors discussing GSA’s recently-proposed effort to do away with (at least in part) the Price Reductions Clause?
Continue Reading I’m Not Dead Yet (Or: A Brief Look at the Future of the Price Reductions Clause in Light of GSA’s Proposed Transactional Data Reporting Rule)

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense recently changed its mailing address. Unfortunately, some contractors have failed to notice the change, and have used the old address in attempting to submit their disclosure letters. Unfortunately, these disclosures were returned to sender. The new address(es) are below, and detailed information can be found here. For further information regarding the mandatory disclosure rule, please see our previous posting on the ABA’s Guide to the Mandatory Disclosure Rule or an article authored by two of our government contracts partners, Louis D. Victorino and John W. Chierichella, republished with permission from The Government Contractor.Continue Reading The DoD IG Has Moved

By Jonathan S. Aronie

So there I was, just sitting there minding my own business. It was the third day of the GSA OIG’s site visit being conducted as part of a routine pre-award audit (or as the OIG called it, a pre-award “attestation review”), and all was going well. The auditor, who was quite a nice guy frankly, had had many questions, as was to be expected, but nothing for which this particular mid-sized GSA Schedule contractor did not have a reasonable response. No Price Reductions Clause violations. No overbillings. No resume qualification issues. Overall, a pretty darn good preliminary report if you ask me. But then, out of the blue, he says, “okay, I’d like to interview your personnel now.” Interview my personnel?! Come again!?
 Continue Reading From Attestation Reviews To Examinations: The GSA OIG Expands The Scope Of Its Pre-Award Audits