A caution to contractors thinking about hiring former Government employees. Under 18 USC 207, a person who works "personally and substantially" on a particular matter for the Government may not represent anyone other than the Government with respect to the matter. If the former Government employee negotiated the contract or worked on an audit, they would face a lifetime ban on representing anyone other than the Government. If they violate that, a very serious criminal conflict of interest issue would arise.
Did you know that there is a U.S. Office of Government Ethics set up to prevent conflicts of interest in the Executive Branch. If you're thinking about hiring former Government workers, you might want to become familiar with its website.
It seems like several times a week we read of another indictment, conviction or guilty plea in Government contracting circles. In the past few days, the Department of Justice announced;
- Three individuals were convicted for padding invoices sent to the Government
- State Department employees indicted for steering contracts to their own company
- Government contractor indicted for paying bribes to a Post Office official
- Guilty plea from a Bureau of Prisons employee accepting gratuities from a supplier
Have you heard that many companies do not want to be labeled as "subcontractors" under a Government prime contract. Seems they would prefer to be "suppliers". There are a lot fewer requirement imposed on suppliers than on subcontractors. If you have a choice, take "supplier".
Congress worked pretty fast to get those furloughed air traffic controllers back to work. Will they do the same for acquisition personnel and contract auditors? We're not holding our breath.
The CAS Board has not published any meeting minutes since October 5, 2011. Have they stopped meeting or are they really late in publishing their minutes?
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