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GAO Protest Further Delays Government Efforts to Clear Investigations Backlog

Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.04.17

Those hoping the Office of Personnel Management’s IDIQ contract for investigative services for the National Background Investigations Bureau will alleviate the investigations backlog for industry personnel with clearances through the Defense Security Service (DSS) will have to wait a few more months due to two GAO protests filed in February 2017, with a decision to be issued no later than May 24, 2017. The pending IDIQ contract is one of several measures the government has taken to ease the security investigations backlog, following a DSS announcement on January 6, 2017 that it would submit cleared contractor personnel with a TS (and other Tier 5) clearance for periodic reinvestigation every six years, versus the previous five-year standard. The policy extending the reinvestigation period in turn followed DoD guidance that eligible personnel should not be denied access based on an out-of-scope-investigation.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.25.26

Twin Executive Orders Seek to Spur Quantum Leap in Technology and Cybersecurity

On June 22, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders, “Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks” (Quantum Security EO) and “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation” (Quantum Innovation EO), marking the most significant federal action on quantum technology since the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act of 2022, which directed agencies to harden their information systems against quantum-enabled hacking. The orders seek to speed the development of quantum computers, which are advanced processors that can calculate multiple possibilities simultaneously and thus solve problems exponentially faster than traditional computers. At the same time, the orders look to protect against the danger that quantum technology can “break” traditional encryption by easily decoding it. Of particular note for government contractors, the Quantum Security EO directs agencies to update federal acquisition regulations to require contractors by 2031 to adopt information processing standards that resist quantum-enabled codebreaking....