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OGE Issues Final Rule on Gifts

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.22.16

The Office of Government Ethics has issued a final rule revising the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch applicable to the solicitation and acceptance of gifts from outside sources imposing a duty to decline otherwise permissible gifts when the appearance of impropriety is present, adding new examples of how to apply the rules, codifying previous interpretations of the gift rule, and retaining the $20 de minimis exception. In the rule, discussed more fully here, OGE says it will provide additional guidance and training as warranted.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.23.26

Protester Beware: Recent GAO Decision Suggests Traditional “Reasonable Possibility” Prejudice Standard May Be Evolving

It is well established that “[c]ompetitive prejudice is an essential element of every viable protest.” Yet, for decades, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has tempered this requirement with two critical corollaries: protesters need only demonstrate a “reasonable possibility” that they were prejudiced by an agency’s actions, and GAO “will resolve doubts regarding prejudice in favor of the protester.” These principles have been consistent features of GAO’s bid protest jurisprudence for more than 30 years. See, e.g., United Int’l Eng'g, Inc., B-245448, Jan. 29, 1992, 71 CPD ¶ 177....