Compliance Stuff

WHAT:  The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has published the  final rule  amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to incorporate contractual requirements for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC). The final rule at long last sets a starting date for phasing in the CMMC program. WHEN:   DOD issued the final rule on September 10, 2025, so it will take effect on November 10, 2025. That effective date will mark the first day of the three-year phase-in effort that DOD previously prescribed in the  earlier final rule  (which we summarized  here ) establishing the CMMC program requirements in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  See  32 CFR § 170.3(e). During the first year of the phase-in plan, the following will be applicable: For new contracts, DOD intends to require at least a self-assessment as a condition of award. DOD retains the discretion to require a third-party certificatio...

  By now, anyone who has had their finger on the pulse of government contracting is keenly aware of the impact the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has had on acquisitions. As of this writing,   DOGE claims   the amount of dollars saved because of the 13,000-plus contracts terminated to be greater than $58 billion. And while that figure   has been debated   and, even if accurate, would represent only a small fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars the U.S. government spends each year purchasing goods and services, DOGE’s mission of terminating contracts and cancelling procurements appears here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. What does this mean for government contractors now that we’re quickly approaching the end of the federal fiscal year, when thousands of contracts normally are awarded as agencies hurry to obligate the rest of their funding for the year? For one thing, there are no more guarantees when it...

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense (DoD) published an “Intellectual Property Guidebook for DoD Acquisition.” It is the culmination of many years of work and the most insightful data rights guidance out of the Department in at least two decades . Private practitioners may not agree with every characterization of the law and data rights regulations, but the IP Guidebook is particularly commendable for its transparency into DoD’s strategic framework for IP negotiations . Although written for government acquisition professionals, it should be mandatory reading for anyone delivering proprietary technology to DoD or defense contractors. Here are a few key takeaways for contractors: 1. Expect More “Use Case” and “VATEP” Solicitations. DoD’s IP strategy is built largely around the ideal of competitive, interest-based negotiations early in the acquisition lifecycle. [1]  To facilitate such negotiations, DoD has experimented in recent years with different solicitation criteria enco...