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Latest from Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman

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My partner Tim Furin and I attended the FY2020 DOD & Federal Agency Program Briefings this week on March 12 in Herndon, Virginia. The Briefings are part of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Capital Week. The program provides SAME members a chance to hear about the projected upcoming fiscal year’s engineering, construction, and environmental programs from contracting representatives, and Senior Executive Service leaders from the engineering components of the military services and select…
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On March 7, 2019, the United States Department of Labor issued a proposed new overtime rule that will raise the minimum salary threshold for workers to qualify for the white-collar exemption to the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the proposed Rule, the salary threshold will increase to $679 per week (equivalent to $35,308 annually) from $455 per week (equivalent to $23,660 annually), expanding overtime eligibility to more than one…
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For federal construction contractors, payment and performance bond obligations in construction contracts with the federal government that exceed $150,000 should, typically, come as no surprise. However, what requirements should contractors expect from a contract that is ambiguous as to whether it is a construction contract, yet calls for construction-related services, but lacks explicit bonding requirement terms? Can bonding requirements be “read-in” to the contract? When should contractors raise such questions? This past November, the Federal…
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This article originally appeared in The Legal Intelligencer on January 9, 2019. The Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL), 73 P.S. Section 201-1 et seq., and the Administrative Code of 1929, specifically 71 P.S. Section 307-3, vest the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) with the power to investigate “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” by companies doing business in Pennsylvania. The statutory definition of these phrases…
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On December 3, 2018, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a deviation from the FAR’s self-performance requirements, which applies to subcontracting limitations on contracts set aside for small businesses. Although the changes to subcontracting limitations were mandated by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (yes, 2013), implementation has been slow and piecemeal. The Small Business Administration (SBA) did not implement the changes until June 2016, and although the FAR Council recently issued a proposed…
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As expected, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently released proposed Title IX regulations, specifically concerning sexual harassment, including sexual assault. This is significant because the DOE has never addressed these issues through regulation. In the past, guidance has only been available through informal resources, such as the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter and the 2014 Guidance/Q&A. As discussed in previous blog posts, these new regulations, if adopted, would constitute a substantial departure from prior…
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On November 27, 2018, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it will consolidate the GSA’s 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) into a single schedule for products and services. The GSA stated that the changes were intended to “modernize federal acquisition” and “make the government buying and selling experience easy, efficient, and modern.” Through the MAS, also referred to as the GSA Schedules and Federal Supply Schedules, the GSA establishes long-term, government-wide contracts with…
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When an agency decides to set aside an acquisition for participation only by small businesses, certain subcontracting limitations apply to the small business awardee. For construction contracts, the small business contractor cannot pay subcontractors more than 85% of the amount they receive from the agency. For service and supply contracts, the small business contractor cannot pay more than 50% of the amount paid to it by the agency to other entities that are not similarly…
Capitol Building
By law, a GAO protest must be filed by an interested party. An interested party is an actual or prospective bidder or offeror whose direct economic interest would be impacted by the award of a contract or by the failure to award a contract. Before bid opening or the closing date for receipt of proposals, a protestor must be a prospective bidder or offeror with a direct economic interest in the procurement. This generally means…
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A bid protest must allege a violation of a procurement statute or regulation. Although most protests challenge the award or proposed award of a contract, the GAO will also consider protests involving defective solicitations and other unreasonable agency actions like the cancellation of a solicitation. In certain cases, the GAO will consider protests involving the termination of a contract where the protest alleges that the government’s termination was based upon improprieties associated with the contract…