Government Contracts Intelligence Briefing

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed wide-ranging changes to the regulatory requirements (currently known as the “Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance”) underlying billions of dollars in grant awards annually. The proposed revisions make (and rebrand) the guidance as binding, contain new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) mandates, give the federal government broader powers to terminate grant awards, and prohibit fixed-price awards, among other things.

Since established by Congress in 1978, the Department of Energy has had a program for loans to minority business enterprises. As stated in the regulations implementing the Department of Energy Implementing Act (the “Act”), the purpose of the loans are to “assist such enterprises in participating fully in research, development, demonstration and contract activities of the Department of Energy.”

When world events move quickly, the government contracting space is one area where impacts are felt immediately. Just within the last few days, the Trump administration launched an effort to remove Anthropic’s AI tools from the federal supply chain and executed extensive strikes against the Iranian regime. Both of these news stories will have a broad impact on the government contracting community.

In a series of releases, the Department of Defense/War announced in writing and on social media that it is reviewing 8(a) and small businesses awarded contracts to ensure compliance with subcontracting requirements and current priorities. Contracts that do not comply will be terminated for convenience.

Join Hunton government contracts Partner Eric Crusius on Thursday, January 15 for episode 1 of the “From Surviving to Thriving: The CMMC Enforcement Era Playbook" series. This series is designed to help contractors, subcontractors, and joint ventures navigate the evolving requirements of CMMC 2.0 and Revision 3 with confidence.

Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (War) announced plans to significantly remake how it will purchase goods and services from government contractors in its Acquisition Transformation Strategy (the Strategy). Central to these reforms will be the use of portfolio management to break down the walls within the Pentagon.

Immediately prior to the lapse in funding on October 1, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released information on their contingency plans during the impending government shutdown, providing guidance to federal contractors.

Contracts issued subject to the Service Contract Act (“SCA”—also known as the Service Contract Labor Standards) require contractors and subcontractors to, among other things, pay an hourly health and welfare benefit specified in an applicable Wage Determination (“WD”). The Department of Labor (“DOL”) issues an updated health and welfare benefit amount annually, which is subsequently incorporated into revised WDs.

Defense contractors received some clarity into the shutdown plans for the Department of Defense/War (Department) when the Department released a memo outlining its contingency plans during this lapse in funding. 

With a potential government shutdown looming, contractors have a lot of work to plan and protect themselves as best they can from possible disruptions in performance and payment. Below we will provide steps to take in anticipation of a shutdown and once a shutdown occurs.