Many technology companies sell their products or services to the U.S. government through resellers, or do business with companies that use their products or services to serve U.S. government customers. These technology companies are often unaware (or uncertain) that they are federal subcontractors subject to various complex, and sometimes onerous, regulations that can have a significant impact on their operations and strategies. Some companies that sell directly to the U.S. government also fail to flow down government contract requirements to their technology subcontractors where required. In our webinar we will discuss recent developments that make subcontractor determinations even more critical.
Topics to be discussed include:
- Significant developments at the Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP) affecting subcontractors, including:
- New portal that requires all federal subcontractors to register and provide an annual certification (with the first certification deadline of June 30, 2022) that the subcontractor has created and maintains a current affirmative action plan. This applies to all companies that sell products or services to the federal government either directly or through resellers/as a subcontractor.
- New OFCCP proposal that would require prime contractors to notify OFCCP when they award supply and service subcontracts.
- Increased enforcement by OFCCP and a return to more aggressive audits of subcontractor facilities for discrimination and other areas of non-compliance. In the last several years, several large technology companies have entered into multi-million dollar settlements with OFCCP for alleged discriminatory hiring and pay practices.
- Recent Court of Federal Claims decision finding lack of Contract Disputes Act jurisdiction for software manufacturer to enforce license terms against the federal government when product was sold through a reseller (and our proposed work-arounds).
- Implementation of Biden Executive Order on IT security for federal contractors and subcontractors, including:
- Enhanced cybersecurity requirements and cyber incident reporting obligations
- Supply chain considerations, including forthcoming requirement for a software bill of materials to document where code development work has been done and enforce protections to ensure code security/integrity.
- Changes to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) definitions that may impact the language used in software licenses for sales of commercial software products and associated services to the federal government.