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ASBCA Decision a Mixed Bag on Cost Allowability Issues

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.17.17

In Raytheon Co., ASBCA No. 57743, et al., the Board addressed penalties associated with various unallowable costs, finding that salaries of employees engaged in unallowable lobbying activities were “expressly unallowable” as “directly associated costs,” and subject to level 1 penalties, even though “directly associated costs” are, by definition, not expressly unallowable. The Board also found that costs that Raytheon had previously agreed to treat as unallowable, but erroneously included in incurred cost submissions, were not subject to level 1 penalties because they were not expressly unallowable (the Government apparently did not argue that such costs were subject to level 2 penalties). Finally, the Board held that testimony and other credible evidence can be used to demonstrate allowability of consultant costs in the absence of perfect documentation, and that a contractor must prove the CO’s failure to waive penalties for expressly unallowable costs is an arbitrary and capricious abuse of discretion.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 09.13.24

SEC Disbands its Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly recently dissolved its Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force (the Task Force). The Task Force was part of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s broader push to increase investors’ access to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) information about public companies and registered investment companies. The dissolution of the Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force comes after three years marked by industry resistance and a mixed record in the courts. Prior to the Task Force’s dissolution, the agency removed ESG from its annual Examination Priorities Report, which provides areas of particular focus during SEC examinations. While the Task Force has been dissolved, the SEC is still pursuing a number of its proposed ESG and climate-related rules....