Overview
Fred Geldon and Caitlin Conroy recently co-authored a Thomson Reuters Briefing Paper titled "Organizational Conflicts Of Interest / Edition VI: Is The OCI Pendulum Swinging Back At The GAO?"
The article discusses the recent movement of the OCI pendulum in a historical context. For several years GAO rarely overturned contracting officer OCI decisions. But during the past two years GAO has sustained OCI protests by seven offerors, a significant turnaround. A recent example is GAO's decision sustaining the protest filed by C2C Innovative Solutions, Inc. In addition, no OCI update would be complete without discussing the regulatory changes mandated by Congress in 2009. These changes led to a 2010 Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) OCI final rule, resulting in significant deconsolidation in the defense industry. And though the proposed FAR OCI rule has not been issued in final form, some of its guidance can be implemented immediately where it is in the interest of the government to do so.
The full article can be read here.
