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July 1, 2020 By cs

Pandemic oversight committee launches contract spending tracker

The committee stated in its first report that financial management could be a top challenge for agencies.
Click on image above to see contract spending compiled by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, established by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, has launched an online tool to track the federal government’s contract spending.  The committee is one of the various entities overseeing the government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and is composed of 21 inspectors general. The relief package appropriated an unprecedented amount of money, so there has been increased pressure to ensure the funds are not misspent. As of last Tuesday, the federal government has committed to 7,474 contracts with 4,115 vendors and spending of $15.9 billion, according to ProPublica.

“Users can download the entire dataset to conduct their own analysis by examining contracts by category – for example medical services and equipment, janitorial services for government buildings, and personal protective equipment and safety supplies for government workers,” said the committee. There is also “an interactive map for users to explore the total amount of contract spending by state and county.”

The committee is using numbers from the Federal Procurement Data System to track the spending and will update the tracker weekly. The committee noted that contract documents aren’t usually made public because of their proprietary information, but individuals can try to obtain them through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2020/06/pandemic-oversight-committee-launches-contract-spending-tracker/166370/

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized.  Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, financial management, FOIA, FPDS, pandemic, Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, spending

November 12, 2019 By cs

DOJ issues new guidance for treatment of confidential information under recent Supreme Court FOIA decision

Last month, the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy issued new guidance on the definition of confidential information under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act.

This new guidance addresses the meaning of “confidential” in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Food Mktg. Inst. v. Argus Leader Media, 139 S. Ct. 2356 (2019). While not determinative, this DOJ Guidance offers contractors critical insight into how agencies will respond in the first instance to FOIA requests for information that may be subject to Exemption 4. This exemption protects “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential.” 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4).

As noted by the Covington law firm earlier this year, in Food Marketing Institute, the Supreme Court jettisoned 40 years of established FOIA case law on how agencies defined confidential under Exemption 4.  It rejected the well-established “competitive harm” test from National Parks & Conservation Association v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1974) based on the lack of support in the statutory language. In its place, it adopted a “plain language” interpretation of confidential, finding two potential definitions: (1) information “customarily kept private, or at least closely held,” by the submitting party; and (2) information disclosed when the receiving party provides “some assurance that it will remain secret.”  The Supreme Court held that the first condition was mandatory but expressly left open whether confidential information could lose that status if provided to the government “without assurances that the government will keep it private.”  As a result, contractors and agencies alike were left without clear guidance as to whether, or when, a government “assurance” may be required.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2019/11/doj-issues-new-guidance-for-treatment-of-confidential-information-under-recent-supreme-court-foia-decision/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: confidential information, disclosure, DOJ, FOIA, guidance, Supreme Court, trade secrets

June 12, 2019 By AMK

Defense contracting fraud: A persistent problem

During the five year period from 2013-2017, there were 1,059 criminal cases of defense contracting fraud resulting in the conviction of 1,087 defendants, including 409 businesses, according to a newly released Department of Defense report to Congress. There were another 443 fraud-related civil cases resulting in judgments against 546 defendants.

During that same period, the Department of Defense entered into more than 15 million contracts with contractors who had been indicted, fined, and/or convicted of fraud, or who reached settlement agreements. The value of those contracts exceeded $334 billion, according to the DoD report. See Report on Defense Contracting Fraud, DoD report to Congress, December 2018.

The report was prepared in response to a requirement in the FY2018 defense authorization act at the initiative of Sen. Bernie Sanders. It was released this week under the Freedom of Information Act.

A previous report covering the period of 2001-2010 was produced by the Department of Defense in 2011, also at the request of Senator Sanders. The earlier report likewise found extensive fraud including criminal and civil offensive in defense contracting.

“Simply put, the Pentagon continues to be riddled with waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer funds to a degree unmatched across the federal government,” Sen. Sanders said in 2017. “It is unacceptable that the Department of Defense continues to lose vast sums of taxpayer money because of fraud perpetrated by major defense contractors. This has got to end.”

Keep reading article at: https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2019/05/defense-contracting-fraud

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Congress, defense contracting, DoD, FCMD, fine, FOIA, fraud, government oversight, Inspector General, NDAA, Pentagon, pricing

April 10, 2017 By AMK

POGO: Contracts need to be posted online

The third week of March was Sunshine Week, the one week out of the year when there is a coordinated effort by experts to highlight topics related to federal and state open records laws, the public’s right to know, and freedom of the press.

There were numerous events around Washington, DC, as well as in cities and on college campuses around the country. The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a proud participant and works hard annually to bolster federal openness because “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

Sunshine Week, however, is not just about talking about open government and cool events. It’s also about action. Last week, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced the “Contractor Accountability and Transparency Act of 2017” (S. 651), which POGO and eight other bipartisan groups supported.

The bill will expand the contracting information available on USASpending.gov (which now only offers summaries of contracts), make the contract information more accessible and readable, and help reduce Freedom of Information Act backlogs.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.pogo.org/blog/2017/03/contracts-need-to-be-posted-online-mccaskill-sunshine-transparency.html

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: contract data, Contractor Accountability and Transparency Act, FOIA, POGO, spending, sunshine, transparency, USASpending

September 7, 2016 By AMK

Agencies could face govermentwide change in FOIA response policy

Federal agencies could soon face a new governmentwide guidance on how they respond to Freedom of Information Act requests, following a meeting in September.

FOIAThe Justice Department Office of Information Policy announced Thursday that the Chief FOIA Officers Council will hold its second meeting on Sept. 15, 2016 to review agencies’ response to a new pilot program.

Under the “Release to One is a Release to All” pilot program initiative, seven volunteer agencies have posted their responses to FOIA requests on publicly available dot-gov websites.

“This concept would ensure that all citizens — not just those making a request — have access to information released under FOIA,” the White House Press Secretary’s Office said in a statement in June.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/agency-oversight/2016/08/agencies-face-govermentwide-change-foia-response-policy/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DOJ, FOIA, Justice Dept.

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