Government Contracts

On October 6, 2021, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (the “Initiative”) to combat cyber threats, specifically to sensitive information and critical systems of the United States Government (USG). In launching the Initiative, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco made clear that a primary focus of the Initiative is to...

The FAR Council, the Department of Defense (“DoD”), and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (“CAAC”) have released guidance for federal government contractors on COVID-19 safeguards required by President Biden’s September 9, 2021, Executive Order 14042 (the “Order”) and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force’s September 24, 2021, Guidance, COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal...

On September 30, 2021, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (“CAAC”) released a memorandum authorizing all civilian United States government agencies to issue a class deviation to implement Executive Order 14042, “Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors.” Attached to the CAAC memo is a FAR Deviation Clause (the “Clause”) that CAAC states “is...

Federal contractor employees—with some limited exceptions—must be vaccinated by December 8, 2021 per guidance released by the Biden administration on Friday.1 The mandate applies to part- and full-time employees of contractors (or subcontractors) who are working either directly on or “in connection with” a contract, including indirect support of a contract like “human resources, billing,...

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, President Biden announced new federal COVID-19 vaccination requirements, outlined below, which will be incumbent on federal government contractors and their employees, federal branch employees, as well as private sector employers with over 100 employees. Federal Government Contractors President Biden signed an Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was tasked with producing guidelines on vendors’ source code testing in accordance with President Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order published on May 12, 2021. NIST published these guidelines on July 7, 2021. The guidelines include “recommended minimums for verification of code by developers.”