The AbilityOne program is among the nation’s largest sources of employment for people who are blind or have significant disabilities. The program is administered by the U.S. AbilityOne Commission, which is the operating name for the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled.
SOURCE: Government Leases Are Subject to Socioeconomic Programs
Bronze Star LLC was founded in 2015 by two brothers. Its business line includes apparel and textile products. After Hurricane Maria damaged tens of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico, Bronze Star, a very young company with an unproven track record won more than $30 million in contracts from FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency) to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs.
SOURCE: Contractor Couldn’t Deliver under $30 Million Contract
The “Major Fraud Act of 1988” (MFA) was passed during the Reagan administration to strengthen previous fraud legislation. Among the changes, the MFA increased the maximum penalties for fraud and added protection for employees who assist in prosecuting fraud. The Act made it illegal to defraud the U.S. Government or to obtain money or property by means of a false pretense or representation. The Law authorizes fines up to $10 million in cases involving multiple violations and a maximum of $5 million for individual counts.
SOURCE: Example of a “Major Fraud”
DFARS (DoD FAR Supplement) 231.205-18 was amended back in November 2016 to require contractors to engage in or document a technical interchange as part of the criteria for determining allowable IR&D (Independent Research and Development) costs. In order for IR&D costs to be determined allowable for IR&D projects initiated in fiscal years 2017 and later, major contractors are required to engage in a technical interchange with a technical or operational DoD Government employee before IR&D costs were incurred. Additionally, the regulations required that contractors document the interchange in the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
SOURCE: Requirement to Engage in Technical Exchanges of IR&D Projects Lifted
Back in August of 2016, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) suspended Latvian Connection LLC from filing bid protests for one year. The reasons for the suspension were many but essentially, GAO found that Latvian Connection’s protest filings were collections of excerpts cut and pasted from a wide range of documents having varying degrees of relevance to the procurements at issue, interspersed with remarks that were derogatory and abusive. After 450 or so of these filings, the GAO had had enough “abuse” and suspended the firm from filing bid protests for a year (See GAO Suspends Firm from Filing Bid Protests for a Year for a more in-depth analysis).
SOURCE: Suspension Lifted – Abuse Resumes – New Two-Year Suspension
Last June, we reported a case involving a North Carolina based contractor who’s owner had pleaded guilty of over-billing the Government by $15 million over a ten-year period. (See $15 Million Fraudulent Billing Scheme).
SOURCE: Government Contractor Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
Have you ever discounted the importance of good, sound internal controls over your purchasing system? You shouldn’t and here’s why.
A former employee of a U.S. Government contractor in Afghanistan will spend the next 21 months in prison because he accepted more than $250,000 in kickbacks from one of the contractor’s Afghan subcontractors. These kickbacks were given in exchange for assistance in obtaining subcontracts.
SOURCE: Prison Time for Accepting Kickbacks from Subcontractor
Oklahoma Senator James Lankford just released “Federal Fumbles Vol 3, One Hundred Ways the Government Dropped the Ball”. This represents his third annual edition of this football themed publication. You can read our coverage of Volumes 1 and 2 by clicking here for the 2015 version and here for the 2016 edition. To download all three editions, visit Senator Lankford’s dedicated webpage..
SOURCE: Federal Fumbles – Vol. 3
The threshold for requiring certified cost or pricing data is currently set at $750,000. This applies to the award of negotiated contracts, subcontracts and modifications (see FAR 15.403-4). This threshold is set by statute, a couple of statutes actually. 10 USC 2306A – Cost or pricing data: truth in negotiations sets the threshold at $500,000 while 41 USC 3502 – Required cost or pricing data and certification allows for that threshold to be adjusted for inflation every five years. There have been a number of adjustments since the 1994 baseline to bring the original threshold up to the current $750,000.
SOURCE: 2018 NDAA – TINA Threshold to Increase to $2 Million
Section 811 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) covers several topics. One concerns the increase in the dollar threshold for the submission of certified cost or pricing data which we will cover in more detail tomorrow. The other appears to be a slap on the wrist of DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) for obfuscating some of their performance data.