Legal Updates

On January 31, 2018, John Klein of the SBA, and Christine Williams of Outlook Law, addressed some of the top legal issues/concerns facing Small Business firms today.  In addition, Christine incorporated some slides regarding joint ventures as a refresher to participants executing joint ventures.  These joint venture  slides were prepared, in part, by a SBA Business Opportunity Specialist (BOS)...

Overview of GAO Protests Analytics for 2017 and the Historical RAND Bid Protest Study By: Christine V. Williams The RAND Bid Protest Study Performed pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2017 came out recently and is approximately 125 pages.  Within that report it had some interesting and unexpected results.  To put it into context, the GAO report on bid protests...

Compliance programs, such as those that have been touched upon by Outlook Law in its Ethics and Compliance Series, can reduce the liability of a company when bad acts are uncovered.  For instance, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that Outlook Law has been exploring are used as a mitigation factor when bad acts occur.  Of the $3.7 Billion in recovery, $3.4 Billion was brought about by...

Ethics and Compliance-Part 3 in a Series by Outlook Law, LLC-The Basics of an Effective Program Earlier in our series, we touched on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which outlines seven basic compliance prongs that can be tailored to fit each company.  The Government assumes, when reviewing compliance programs, that every effective compliance plan has a formal commitment to these prongs. ...

The SBA's Presumed Loss Rule has now been in play for about four and half years, and in a 2016 enforcement action someone went to jail over it.  (Link below to the Memorandum Opinion giving details). As we head into the New Year, it bears remembering some of the regulations that are still in play within the SBA that carry serious consequences.  With that in mind, here is an overview of the...

Ethics and Compliance: Part 2 in a Series by Outlook Law, LLC- Financial Benefits, Sentencing Guidelines, and Pillars   In Part 2 of the Ethics and Compliance Series, the following topics are addressed: (1) the financial benefits of an ethical culture; (2) the sentencing guidelines and mitigation benefits of a strong ethics program-including small organizations; and (3) understanding...

Christine V. Williams December 18, 2017 Advising clients that own a small business with another entity, and I apply this to joint ventures as well, it is important to keep affiliation rules in mind.  I define the small business owner (or the SBA firm) as the one on whom the eligibility depends on to qualify for the U.S. Small Business set-aside contract.  For instance, for 8(a) BD firms...

The Culture of Ethics By Christine V. Williams   As 2018 quickly approaches, many companies are visiting or revisiting their code of conduct and/or business ethics code. Here are a few pointers and look for more coming in the following weeks: • Know who is giving you advice on an ethics and compliance program. Is it a first timer or someone experienced and knowledgeable in the...

A Writ of Certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rothe v. Department of Defense/SBA.  In short, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the Constitutional challenge to the 8(a) statute.  There was no dissenting opinion written disagreeing with the denial, as is sometimes done.  For instance, in the attachment, where Rothe cert was denied on page two, further along there is a...

In 2014, there was a series of recommendations both from the Justice Department itself and the GAO for changes to the processes, policies, and approach taken to whistleblowers and whistleblower claims.   This included recommendations for protecting FBI employees. On September 20, 2017, Senators Grassley and Leahy, from the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which they serve as Chairman and...