OFPP Still Myth-Busting, Seeks to Improve Industry Engagement on Acquisition Issues
Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.30.19
On April 30, 2019, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued its fourth Myth-Busting memorandum, the purpose of which is to:
- “[I]mprove awareness of vendor engagement strategies that Federal procurement thought leaders are using to create a more responsive buying process, modernize the acquisition culture, and deliver greater value to the taxpayer.”
- Ask “each Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO Act) agency to ensure it has designated an industry liaison to work with the agency’s Acquisition Innovation Advocate (AIA), the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), and other key acquisition personnel to promote modern vendor communication practices and counter misconceptions that drive today’s risk aversion culture[,]” i.e., “to serve as a conduit among acquisition stakeholders and promote strong agency vendor communication practices.”
The memorandum also:
- “[H]ighlights ten misconceptions related to innovative practices” (three of which address key issues in acquisition innovation and the remainder of which address communicating with industry).
- “[S]howcases successful agency efforts[.]”
- Explains that “new examples will be posted on the Innovation Hub of the Acquisition Gateway to foster dynamic conversations among the acquisition workforce.”
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On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”
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