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When the government contracts with private parties, the risk of fraud runs high. Fraud against the government hurts everyone: taxpayer money is wasted on inferior or nonexistent products and services, and the public bears the burdens attendant to those inadequate goods. To combat fraud, Congress has developed several statutory frameworks to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and report wrongdoing in exchange for a monetary reward. The federal False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to file an action in federal court on behalf of the United States, and to share in any recovery. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC Office of the Whistleblower investigates tips provided by whistleblowers and, in the event of a successful prosecution, pays an award to the tipster. The False Claims Act and SEC program both protect whistleblowers from retaliatory action from their employer. But the SEC program goes a step further: SEC Rule 21F-17 also prevents an employer from taking any action to interfere with the reporting of fraud. In this way, the SEC program protects not only whistleblowers, but also whistleblowing itself. It's time for the False Claims Act to catch up. Congress should look to SEC Rule 21F-17 as a model for how it could amend the False Claims to establish a cause of action against contractors who take steps to chill or restrict their employees from bringing forward claims of fraud. In doing so, it will vindicate the original intent and purpose of the False Claims Act and encourage whistleblowers to come forward and put an end to corporate wrongdoing. Protecting whistleblowing benefits the government, taxpayers, and whistleblowers--and ensures that the False Claims Act remains an effective instrument in the fight against fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about regulatory environment of government contracts by the U.S. Federal government that imposes social policy on government contractors under Davis-Bacon Act and Service Contract Act.

The article focuses on the executive order obligations for federal contractor employees in 2015. Topics include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, nondiscrimination laws in the U.S., and the legal status of employers as federal contractors. Information is provided on annual hiring benchmarks for U.S. veterans by employers.

The article focuses on the U.S. Federal Circuit Bar Association's study on the best practices in federal procurement contracting. Topics include the performance issues found, the resolution of government contract disputes, and the precedent set by the U.S. Court of Appeals case M. Maropakis Carpentry Inc. v. United States.

The federal government spent over $550 billion procuring goods, services, and construction from the private sector last year. To keep these taxpayer dollars from going to inscrutable contractors, the government uses the remedies of suspension and debarment to ensure that only "responsible" parties perform government contracts. The current regulations, however, are too broad and permit agencies to suspend and debar individuals and companies that do not have an established connection to government contracting. In the face of political pressures to increase suspension and debarment actions, these overbroad regulations invite misuse. Not only do actions against such individuals and companies violate the purposes of the suspension and debarment regulations--protecting the government and acting in the public interest--they are inefficient and waste valuable taxpayer resources. Narrowing the scope of suspension and debarment regulations so that agencies may take actions only against those individuals and companies that currently contract, or have previously contracted, with the government ensures suspension and debarment programs are efficiently employing their limited resources with an aim toward protecting the government, not generally policing contractor behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the importance of contract clauses for improvement in transparency of information among contractors of the Federal Government under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Topics discussed include risks of limiting access to environmental information in the contractors' work, impact of increased contracting on the transparency of FOIA and disclosure of environmentally sensitive information. It further discusses the assurance of the contractors for the public welfare.

The article discusses the regulation of information security in the government contracting industry as of June 2013, focusing on the U.S. government's attempts to strengthen its regulations and laws in the wake of increasing cybersecurity risks. Several statutes are addressed, including the U.S. Paperwork Reduction Act and the nation's Computer Security Act of 1987. Data security breaches and controlled unclassified information (CUI) are mentioned, along with U.S. Department of Defense and the nation's Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

The U.S. Congress created the Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) and Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) programs to promote fairness in government contracting. In this article, the authors examine whether increases in racial and gender representation in federal agencies correlate with the proportion of contract dollars awarded to women- and minority-owned firms. Using the theory of representative bureaucracy as a starting point, they find evidence that increases in passive minority representation result in a larger proportion of contract dollars awarded to minority-owned firms, which comports with previous empirical research. There is no evidence, however, that female representation leads directly or indirectly to substantive benefits for women-owned small businesses. Given that the findings for women do not support representative bureaucracy, the authors provide potential alternative explanations. Specifically, they consider gender bias, social identity, and the 'queen bee' phenomenon as possible explanations for why women are less inclined to advocate for other women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent months the Government has taken measures, globally called «Plan Proveedores», aimed at establishing an efficient mechanism for payment and cancellation of outstanding debts to suppliers of local bodies and autonomous regions. This paper summarizes and analyzes the main features of this framework [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on U.S. Department of Labor solicitor T. Timothy Ryan's prediction that contractors doing business with the U.S. government can expect less burdensome employment discrimination rules by summer 1982. Speech delivered at the 1982 midyear meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA); Goal of reducing the burden of compliance for smaller employers.