Clauses | The Contracting Education Academy

June 24, 2016 By AMK

GSA doubles-down on commercial supplier and end-user license agreements

Recently, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) issued a proposed rule to codify a class deviation regarding GSA’s approach to common Commercial Supplier Agreement (“CSA”) and End User License Agreement (“EULA”) terms.

The class deviation has been previously addressed here and in an article for the Coalition for Government Procurement available here. While the Proposed Rule apparently is intended to assuage contractor concerns about the class deviation, it falls short of this goal, so contractors must remain vigilant if and when the Proposed Rule is finalized and GSA begins to attempt to implement it through contract modifications. Comments on the Proposed Rule are due by August 1, 2016.

Like the class deviation, the Proposed Rule would declare “unenforceable” 15 typical CSA/EULA terms and conditions that GSA believes are inconsistent with federal law. This change would thus allow GSA to ignore these clauses during negotiations, with the stated goal of reducing time and expense in negotiating CSAs/EULAs.

But the Proposed Rule does not stop there.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/06/gsa-proposed-rule-doubles-down-on-csaeula-deviation

May 3, 2016 By AMK

Lawmaker sics federal watchdog on Army acquisitions

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is forcing the Army’s acquisition workforce to answer some tough questions.

The ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations requested that the Government Accountability Office assess the Army’s contracting process, including accountability and oversight.

“Given these ongoing concerns,” McCaskill said in the April 11 letter, citing a series of reports from the GAO dating back to 2008 regarding the Defense Department’s acquisition workforce, “I believe it is necessary for GAO to assess how the Army is currently managing and overseeing its contracting process.”

Included in this assessment, McCaskill wants to know details on how the Army is organized to manage its contracting process, how accountability is maintained, how is workflow and oversight managed, and what metrics are used to assess the outcomes.

The most recent GAO report cited in the senator’s letter, published Jan. 28, revolved around Army contracting officials improperly invoking certain clauses. The report pointed to an “inexperienced and overwhelmed acquisition workforce” as one of the main factors. GAO recommended that the Army provide training and issue a formal reminder to all relevant personnel about the proper use of the contracts in question. DoD concurred with those suggestions.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/army/2016/04/lawmaker-sics-federal-watchdog-army-acquisitions/

February 29, 2016 By AMK

OPM seeks to tighten security of contractors conducting background checks

Contractors that conduct background investigations for the federal government will have to report information security incidents to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) within half an hour, are required to use smartcards as a second layer of security when logging on to agency networks, and must agree to let OPM inspect their systems at any time.

Those are new requirements OPM has written into draft contracting documents released last month that govern how the personal, often sensitive, information gleaned during background investigations should be stored on contractors’ computer systems.

The draft request for proposals is “intended to provide industry advanced notice of the pending solicitation as well as an opportunity to provide comments, feedback and recommendations that the government can consider prior to finalizing the solicitation,” OPM spokesman Sam Schumach told Nextgov in an email.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2016/02/contracting-docs-opm-tighten-it-security-background-investigation-companies/125741

November 7, 2014 By AMK

Cloud service contracts lack needed clauses, security standards not met

A review of cloud computing services in the Commerce Department found missing clauses in contractors’ agreements to permit reviews of their facilities and operations, as well as lack of compliance with federal security standards.

In examining a sample of cloud service contracts from three bureaus, the department’s inspector general found that four did not contain a specific Commerce Department clause that would allow its investigators access to the provider’s facilities, installations, operations, documentation, databases and personnel that would be used to perform such services. As a result, the IG would not be able to conduct inspections, investigations, audits and other reviews.

Additionally, one contract did not contain a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause that would permit the agency access to a service provider’s installations, documentation, records and databases, which is needed to make sure that government data remains secure and confidential, according to an IG memo dated Oct. 14, 2014.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/commerce-ig-cloud-service-contracts-lack-needed-clauses-security-standards/2014-10-20

Recently, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) issued a proposed rule to codify a class deviation regarding GSA’s approach to common Commercial Supplier Agreement (“CSA”) and End User License Agreement (“EULA”) terms.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is forcing the Army’s acquisition workforce to answer some tough questions.

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