James Boland published "Legal Developments for Contractors to Consider" in the October issue of Government Contracting Law Report. Here is an excerpt:
The President's Fiscal Year 2018 Budget would increase defense, public safety, and infrastructure spending by increasing funding at the U.S. Department of Defense ("DOD") and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"), while cutting funding at agencies such as the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). Additional cuts would be made in education, labor, and arts programs. The various increases and cuts would affect government contractors in numerous and potentially surprising ways: for instance, although DOD spending would increase overall, "redundant" service contracts would be cut. Reductions in, and outright eliminations of, federal programs and independent agencies would also affect grants; while some grant programs would be maintained, others would be eliminated altogether. Although the budget gives some insight into the direction of the federal government going forward, it is up to Congress to determine whether, and the extent to which, the budget will be passed. In addition to monitoring Congress's actions with regard to the President's budget, contractors should remain alert to budget decisions that are made at the agency level, such as the U.S. Department of Labor's budget proposal to merge the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs ("OFCCP")—which holds contractors and subcontractors responsible for complying with the legal requirement to take affirmative action and not discriminate—into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") by the end of Fiscal Year 2018.