Enhanced Requirements for Cost-Reimbursement Contracting
Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.16.11
As required by the FY 2009 DOD Authorization Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation has been amended effective March 16, 2011 (76 Fed. Reg. 14543), to add new provisions controlling the Government's decision to award cost-reimbursement contracts. The enhanced regulations focus on the Government's internal processes, but the provisions most likely to affect contractors directly are the requirement for appointment of a qualified contracting officer's representative (COR) or contracting officer's technical representative (COTR) prior to award of cost-reimbursement contracts and assignment on a non-delegable basis to the cognizant federal agency official (CFAO -- generally the ACO for DOD contractors) of responsibility for determining the adequacy of the contractor's accounting system during the entire period of contract performance, with no express limit in the regulation as to the type of contract covered by that provision.
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26
DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability
On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
Auto Dealers: The FTC Is Back in the Driver’s Seat — Warning Letters Signal Renewed Federal Scrutiny
Client Alert | 13 min read | 06.12.26
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
