Regulatory Playbook

Trending Issues

Fall 2018 CFIUS Briefing
09.24.2018
Many US-China deals are still getting done, but there is no question the challenges facing those deals has increased over recent months. Relatively few transactions have emerged from the CFIUS process since earlier this year; some have cleared and some have not. Our review of publicly available information indicates that the clearance rate for US-China deals since the Trump Administration took office has fallen from about 55% earlier this year to about 50%, but two very high-profile deals received approval (an acquisition by COSCO which involved a pier in Long Beach Harbor, and China Oceanwide’s acquisition of Genworth Financial). We continue to believe that careful selection of target assets, early risk assessment, and transparent filings with CFIUS will still allow many if not most deals to get through.

President Trump Signs FY 2019 NDAA
08.14.2018
On August 13, 2018, President Trump signed the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (2019 NDAA), which includes $616.9 billion for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) base budget, $69 billion for overseas contingency operations funding, $8.9 billion for mandatory defense spending and $21.9 billion for nuclear weapons programs under the Department of Energy. We have written extensively on numerous provisions of this new law.

Congress Commissions Study of Bid Protests Filed at Both the GAO and COFC
08.07.2018
We have previously discussed Congress’ efforts to reform the bid protest process through recent National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA). In the Fiscal Year 2017 NDAA, Congress mandated a review of the bid protest process for Department of Defense (DoD) acquisitions, which led to a nearly year-long research study by the RAND National Defense Research Institute (RAND). The Fiscal Year 2018 NDAA provided for a number of reforms to the bid protest system, including enhanced debriefing rights for protestors. Much of these enhanced debriefing rights were implemented on March 22, 2018, by a Class Deviation issued by DoD. This year’s NDAA signals Congress’ continued interest in reforming the bid protest system to enhance the efficiency of the acquisition system.

New SIGAR Report Identifies “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” in Afghanistan
08.01.2018
We recently reported on a Department of Defense (DoD) regulation effective April 13, 2018, that prevents government contracting officers from funding projects in Afghanistan that cannot be safely accessed and monitored by military or civilian personnel, as these projects raise a heightened specter of waste, fraud, and abuse. A new report (the “SIGAR Report”) from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the government entity charged with monitoring U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, effectively validates the concerns that gave rise to this regulation and suggests that government scrutiny of public spending in Afghanistan is likely to continue to intensify.

Congress Reaches Agreement on CFIUS Reform Legislation Broadening National Security Reviews and Addressing Emerging Technologies
07.30.2018
House and Senate negotiators have agreed on proposed reforms to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) foreign investment review process, which has been added as Title XVII of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The final bill makes a number of changes intended to improve the efficiency of national security reviews and investigations, although a significant increase in staff and funding will be required in order to handle the increased caseload. Importantly, outbound technology transfers in the context of joint ventures and other collaborative arrangements will not be added to the “covered transaction” definition, but will instead be addressed by U.S. export controls.

DoD’s Enhanced Debriefings: GAO Provides Timeliness Guidance
07.30.2018
In previous Client Alerts (found here and here), we have discussed the new rules issued by the Department of Defense (DoD) that significantly bolster the rights of government contractors to receive “debriefings” pursuant to Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), following the award of defense contracts. The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent decision in State Women Corporation, B-416510 (July 12, 2018) provides important new guidance regarding GAO’s timeliness rules in the context of these newly enhanced debriefings.

The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule Is Dead! Now What
06.28.2018
On June 21, 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a highly anticipated mandate vacating the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiduciary rule in toto. The mandate follows numerous challenges to the DOL’s Fiduciary rule and the Court’s earlier decision holding that the Fiduciary rule was invalidly promulgated.