On March 12, 2024, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a final rule, revising the eligibility criteria for the voluntary DoD Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity (CS) Activities Program. The intent of the rule is to permit all defense contractors that own or operate unclassified information systems that process, store, or transmit covered defense
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OMB Approves Final CISA Secure Software Attestation Common Form, Triggering Clock for Collection
On March 11, 2024 the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), released the much anticipated final version of its common Secure Software Development Attestation Form. Finalization of the form is a notable development for developers of software that is sold to the U.S. Government for two reasons. First, the form is expected to be used widely…
Federal Highway Administration Announces Proposed Rule Ending Longstanding Buy America Waiver for Manufactured Products
On March 7, 2024, the Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) announced a proposed rule to rescind a longstanding general waiver of Buy America requirements for manufactured products (the “Manufactured Products Waiver”). If finalized, this would be a major change for the agency, reversing a policy that has been in place for more…
DOD Issues Final DFARS Rule Implementing Increased Buy American Restrictions for Defense Procurements
On February 15, 2024, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) issued a final rule that increases the domestic content requirements for defense procurements.
The new rule amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) to implement Executive Order 14005 (“EO”). The EO was intended to strengthen the requirements of the Buy American Act (“BAA”) by, among…
January 2024 Developments Under President Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, National Cybersecurity Strategy, and AI Executive Order
This is the thirty-third in a series of Covington blogs on implementation of Executive Order 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” issued by President Biden on May 12, 2021 (the “Cyber EO”). The first blog summarized the Cyber EO’s key provisions and timelines, and the subsequent blogs described the actions taken by various government agencies to…
December 2023 Developments Under President Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, National Cybersecurity Strategy, and AI Executive Order
This is the thirty-second in a series of Covington blogs on implementation of Executive Order 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” issued by President Biden on May 12, 2021 (the “Cyber EO”). The first blog summarized the Cyber EO’s key provisions and timelines, and the subsequent blogs described the actions taken by various government agencies to…
New Proposed Rule on Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting
On January 30, 2024, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (“FAR Council”) proposed a new “Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting” rule for government contractors. The proposed rule intends to increase race and gender equity for employees of federal prime contractors and subcontractors by prohibiting them from requesting and relying on certain information…
U.S. Government Brings Criminal Charges Against Individual Alleged to be Responsible for Falsely Representing that Cameras Sold to Government Customers were Compliant with Section 889 Requirements
On January 4, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced that it has filed criminal wire fraud and false statement charges against the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company that knowingly sold certain surveillance and security cameras to prosecutors’ offices, sheriffs’ offices, and police departments in the state of…
Contractors Had a Strong Success Rate Before the CBCA in FY 2023
The Civilian Board of Contract Appeals has published its annual report for FY 2023, providing data regarding the number of appeals and contractor success rates at the Board. The data illustrated a number of noteworthy points — and a few welcome trends — for the contracting community.…
Key Supply Chain Provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2024
This post continues our ongoing coverage of the FY 2024 NDAA.
The FY 2024 NDAA includes numerous supply chain and stockpile management provisions aimed at addressing a host of perceived vulnerabilities and weaknesses in Department of Defense (“DoD”) supply chain networks used to secure goods and services for our national defense. Of particular note, this…