PODCAST Proposed Personal Conflict of Interest Rules for US Government Contractors

The Government Contracts group at Arnold & Porter LLP is beginning to use audio podcasts for relaying information to our clients and friends. These audio podcasts can be listened to on your Blackberry or MP3 players in addition to your personal computer. If you run into difficulty playing the podcast on your Blackberry, you may need to change your browser settings.

The US government's increased reliance on contractors to assist with procurement-related matters has heightened concerns regarding conflicts of interest. Moving beyond recent attention given to the potential organizational conflicts confronting such advisory and assistance contractors,  the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 requires new federal acquisition policies to prevent personal conflicts of interest related to contractor employees performing acquisition activities closely associated with inherently governmental functions. This congressional directive and the proposed FAR personal conflict of interest rules (FAR Case 2008-025) designed to implement the directive promise to impact the procurement landscape materially in coming years. Chris Yukins, co-director of the George Washington University Law School Government Contracts Program, and Craig Holman, partner in the Arnold & Porter LLP Government Contracts Group, discuss the proposed FAR amendment and acquisition-related personal conflicts of interest in the podcast.

This is a discussion of US principles only.