By: Margaret M. Cassidy Bottom Line Up Front Make sure you know if you are selling commercial, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), or non-commercial items to the government because it directly impacts your procurement strategy, compliance obligations, pricing requirements, rights in intellectual property and contract administration: Selling commercial items: You are facing a speedier procurement process, and...
By: Margaret M. Cassidy & Jelena Tasic Soon a new DFARS, Mitigating Risks Related to Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence, will require defense contractors and subcontractors to disclose their owners and any foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) to the Department of Defense if they want to do business with DoD directly or through the...
By: Andrew Swick The federal government has decided quantum computing is a key priority moving forward. On June 22, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14413, “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation”, a whole-of-government directive to accelerate the deployment and commercialization of quantum computing, sensing, and networking. The order builds on the 2018 National...
By: Margaret M. Cassidy & Andrew Swick Part 2 of our FY26 NDAA reviews shifts from industrial base investment to changes the Department of Defense’s (DoD) acquisition process, organized into five subcategories: When Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Apply Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) Threshold Changes Compliance Exemptions for Nontraditional Defense Contractors Encouraging Commercial Purchases Cybersecurity...
By: Margaret M. Cassidy & Andrew Swick We are going to unpack some parts of the FY26 NDAA most relevant to defense contractors and their advisors. This installment covers Industrial Base Investment and Opportunities, organized into five subcategories: Industrial Base Fund & capacity investments; Domestic sUAS and IndoPacific cooperation; Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) and centralized...
The SBA announced yesterday in a news release that it has suspended “over 1,000 contractors” from participating in the 8(a) Program because they did not turn in the documents the SBA demanded that the produce by the deadline of January 19, 2025. This announcement, is actually buried in the news release so too find this...
On January 7, an Executive Order titled “Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting” was issued. Its message to the defense industrial base is clear: get your act together – start performing defense contracts and delivering on time—or else. The “or else” is significant. If the Secretary of Defense, at his sole discretion, determines that a contractor has...
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) used the law to hack a Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) cybersecurity research lab for doing cybersecurity research for the Department of Defense[1] (DoD) for allegedly not having cybersecurity controls in place as required by its contracts and telling DoD it did. Read to learn more about what happened....
Prepare for Modifications: Since schedules were likely disrupted for many contracts and subcontracts you will likely need a modification to your performance schedule which in turn may impact your price and other SOW more generally. And, don’t forget we now have a revolutionized FAR so, that may result in mods as well. Request an Equitable...
In a year that saw executive orders coming out rapid fire, a FAR revolution and a government shutdown, there is some good news. A Pentagon memo from earlier this year titled Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality may simplify and expedite the process for companies to have the Department of Defense buy their software....
