Compliance Stuff

The Department of War’s (“DoW”) dispute with Anthropic continues to evolve. Should you, as a government contractor, change your relationships with Anthropic or its products as a result?  To recap the story: Two weeks ago, DoW designated Anthropic, a major provider of AI tools, including the only AI tool cleared for classified systems, as a supply chain risk following a breakdown in negotiations over contractual use restrictions on Anthropic’s Claude model. This marked the first time a U.S.-based company has ever been designated a supply chain risk. A few days prior, DoW considered using the Defense Production Act to ensure preferred access and potentially compel changes to Anthropic’s products. After the designation, the President instructed federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology, and DoW statements implied contractors should not engage commercially with Anthropic . Multiple  legal  commentators  questioned whether the Department’s actions exce...

  The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) is an  Executive Order  that seeks to reform the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to eliminate barriers to doing business with the Federal Government. This monumental change is akin to removing the traffic light at a four-way intersection and replacing it with a stop sign. So, will the government’s signal change improve efficiency, or will it cause more traffic and accidents? Let’s take a look. What is the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul? The  White House  intends for the RFO to streamline the procurement process. To achieve this goal, the FAR Council, the heads of agencies, and senior acquisition officials will amend the FAR so that it only contains provisions that are required by statute or “are otherwise necessary to support simplicity and usability, strengthen the efficacy of the procurement system, or protect economic or national security interests.” To date, little guidance has been issued to determine which regulatio...