Law Commons^™

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2022), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper/chapter, presented at the Thomson Reuters Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2022), attempts to identify some the leading, evolving trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement (and grant) and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity. This year's chapter begins with a cautionary note about the federal debt ceiling and discusses, among other things, the flurry of regulatory activity in the public procurement sphere as the Biden administration accelerates efforts to restore and …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2021), Steven L. Schooner, David Berteau

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper/chapter, presented at the Thomson Reuters Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2021), attempts to identify some the leading, evolving trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement (and grant) and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity. This year's paper discusses, among other things, the flurry of activity in the public procurement sphere as the Biden administration accelerates efforts to restore and reshape the government, special emergency procurement authorities deployed during the coronavirus pandemic, …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2020), Steven L. Schooner, David J. Berteau

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper/chapter, presented at the Thomson Reuters Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2020), attempts to identify the key evolving trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement for 2020-2021 and beyond. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement (and grant) and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity. This year's paper discusses, among other things, special emergency procurement authorities deployed during the coronavirus pandemic, the high degree of uncertainty currently being experienced in the public procurement sphere as the Biden administration begins, …

No Time To Waste: Embracing Sustainable Procurement To Mitigate The Accelerating Climate Crisis, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Procurement professionals will increasingly be asked to play an important role in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, we don't have time to waste, either feeling hopeless or waiting for changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and subsequent efforts to implement new regulations. The time to start progressing up the learning curve is now. We need to talk - seriously, thoughtfully - about climate change and sustainable procurement, particularly early in the acquisition planning process. We need to rethink the value proposition, particularly with regard to factoring in the social costs of continuing to rely …

The Compliance Mentorship Program: Improving Ethics And Compliance In Small Government Contractors, Jessica Tillipman, Vijaya Surampudi

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Over the past decade, the anti-corruption, ethics, and compliance landscape has changed dramatically. This is a direct consequence of a global anti-corruption enforcement effort led by the United States through its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The increase in enforcement has also been spurred by the adoption of several multilateral anti-corruption agreements, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). These agreements have spurred several countries to enact anti-corruption laws, such as the U.K. Bribery Act, Brazil’s Clean Company Act, and France’s Loi Sapin II. The …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2019), Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper/chapter, presented at the Thomson Reuters Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2019), attempts to identify the key evolving trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement for 2019-2020 and beyond. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity. This year's paper discusses, among other things, the high degree of uncertainty currently being experienced in the public procurement sphere, dramatic increases to the micro-purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds, the work of the Congressionally-mandated Section 809 …

‘Warming Up’ To Sustainable Procurement, Steven L. Schooner, Markus Speidel

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Procurement professionals will play a critical role in the belated but necessary effort to slow the pace of climate change. That critical, evolved role will lie in sustainable procurement, which, if effectively implemented, will dramatically alter markets and fundamentally change purchasing behaviors. To be effective, procurement professionals will need to rethink how we define our profession, assess our outcomes, and bring value to our government customers. Successfully establishing a sustainable procurement regime will require dramatic change, including, among other things, overcoming the persistent tyranny of low price, understanding and adopting lifecycle costing, considering externalities in the value proposition, and, of …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2016), Steven L. Schooner, Neal J. Couture

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2015), attempts to identify the key trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement, grant, and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity. The paper discusses, in addition to the macro-level data, initiatives from OFPP and DoD, including the Better Buying Power 3.0's less-than-obvious focus on innovation, the need for investment in research and development, information technology and category management, acquisition performance measurement (or …

Emerging Policy And Practice Issues (2015), Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2014), attempts to identify the key trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement for 2014. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement, grant, and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity (which, this year, was highlighted by Executive Order activity). The paper discusses, in addition to data, changes to OFPP and DoD leadership and the continued Defense Department Better Buying Power Initiative (now in version 3.0) and acquisition performance measurement …

The Centrality Of Military Procurement: Explaining The Exceptionalist Character Of United States Federal Public Procurement Law, Joshua I. Schwartz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This study builds upon prior work that delineates opposing tendencies of exceptionalism and congruence that measure the degree to which a body of public contracts law diverges or adheres to the norms of private contract law. This study has two objectives. First, itseeks to define more precisely, and track the incidence and locus of a phenomenon described as exceptionalism in public procurement law. Exceptionalism enhances the powers or reduces the liabilities of the government with respect to its private contracting partners. The first branch of this study also seeks to distinguish such true exceptionalism from a phenomenon of reverse exceptionalism …