Section 809 Panel Releases Volume 1 Report and Recommendations
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.06.18
In the FY2016 NDAA, Congress created the “Section 809 Panel” to review and streamline DoD acquisition regulations to “improv[e] the efficiency and effectiveness of the defense acquisition process and maintain defense technology advantage.” On January 31, the Panel released its Volume 1 Report, which includes recommendations on a number of topics, such as commercial buying, contract compliance and audit, defense business systems, and services and small business contracting. (The Panel’s Volume 2 and 3 Reports will be released in June 2018 and January 2019, respectively.)
Many of the Panel’s recommendations are deep in the legislative and regulatory weeds, but could have far reaching effects—e.g., implementing a single definition of “subcontractor” to replace the 27 different definitions currently scattered throughout various statutes and regulations; bifurcating commercial items into commercial products and commercial services; etc. The full Volume 1 Report is worth a read for those interested in (and impacted by) DoD acquisition reform.
We will also be providing further analysis on our blog in the coming weeks.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26
DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability
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].”
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
Auto Dealers: The FTC Is Back in the Driver’s Seat — Warning Letters Signal Renewed Federal Scrutiny
Client Alert | 13 min read | 06.12.26
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
