1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |“Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Rules Head to White House for Final Review

“Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Rules Head to White House for Final Review

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.09.16

On May 4, 2016, the FAR Council’s draft final rules and the Department of Labor’s draft final guidance implementing the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” executive order arrived at the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review, setting in motion the final steps prior to the issuance of burdensome new compliance and reporting obligations for federal contractors and subcontractors (discussed here). OIRA has 90 days to conduct its review of the rules before sending them to the FAR Secretariat for publication, a period during which OFPP and other OMB offices, contractors, and industry trade groups may meet with OIRA to share their concerns, in advance of the publication of new FAR rules likely to trigger vigorous legal challenges from industry.

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.10.26

Federal Circuit Clarifies Application of Blue & Gold: Proposal Submission Deadline, Not Award, is the Operative Time for Filing

In Utech, Inc. v. United States, No. 24-1586 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that in most cases, a pre-award protest must be filed before the proposal submission deadline to avoid the Blue & Gold waiver rule.  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal submission deadline....