Midsize firms hardest hit by new requirement

 Alice Lipowicz posted this article in Washington Technology on February 12th, 2009

Midsize federal contractors with $5 million to $500 million in annual revenues are likely to be hardest hit by the new mandatory self-disclosure requirements in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, according to a government contracts expert.

“This means the most to companies in the middle,” said Tony Fuller, a partner at Beers and Cutler law firm, during a forum in Washington today. “They have further to go to comply.”
Under new provisions that went into effect Dec. 12, 2008, federal contractors must report in a timely fashion when they have credible evidence of violations of federal criminal law, fraudulent acts and receipt of overpayments. Failure to do so could result in suspension or debarment from federal contracting. The rules apply to most federal contracts valued at $5 million or more.

Contractors also must institute ethics compliance and anti-fraud controls and train their employees about those programs. Midsize contractors’ ethics and anti-fraud systems tend to be at varying levels of maturity, Fuller said. Some firms will need to take additional actions toward setting policies and procedures, training employees, and establishing control systems and documented processes to comply with the new rules, he said.