Sara Draper

Latest from the policy & regulatory desk

• Court Freezes Army Corps' Kuwait Construction Contract Over Hidden Price Test
  Protests · 2026-09-27

  A Court of Federal Claims judge halted the Army Corps' Kuwait construction IDIQ after finding evaluators secretly ran a price-realism test the solicitation never disclosed, penaliz…

• Navy's Shipyard Rebuild Balloons to $200 Billion, GAO Finds — With No Duty to Tell Congress
  Policy · 2026-09-27

  A GAO report finds the Navy's four-shipyard rebuild will top $200 billion and take 50+ years, nearly 10x its 2018 estimate, with no requirement to give Congress a full accounting.

• HHS's Migrant Children Legal-Aid Contract Survives GAO Protest as Access Gap Persists
  Protests · 2026-09-27

  GAO rejected Acacia Center for Justice's challenge to HHS's re-competed legal-services contract for unaccompanied migrant children, clearing the solicitation's invoice and scope te…

• SBA Slashes Its Own Impact Estimate 95% as It Extends Size-Standard Comment Period
  Policy · 2026-09-27

  SBA gave contractors 60 more days to comment on its size-standards overhaul after cutting its estimate of newly eligible small businesses from 114,000 to as few as 4,000, without r…

• VA Watchdog: Staff Had Under 11 Hours to Vet Hundreds of DOGE-Ordered Contract Cuts
  Policy · 2026-09-27

  A VA Inspector General review found contracting officers followed FAR rules while canceling $1.1 billion in contracts under DOGE pressure, but VA's first report to Congress on the …

• DOT Ends Race- and Sex-Based Presumptions in DBE and ACDBE Contracting, Effective Today
  Policy · 2026-09-26

  DOT finalized a rule effective Sept. 25, 2026 requiring every DBE and ACDBE applicant to prove disadvantage individually rather than through race- or sex-based presumptions, clarif…

• Bipartisan Bill Would Deliver First Major AbilityOne Overhaul in Nearly 50 Years
  Policy · 2026-09-24

  Hoyer and Sessions introduced H.R. 10443 to modernize AbilityOne's statute, expanding eligibility, speeding up procurement-list additions, and backed by a 50-group coalition includ…

• $8 Billion Antarctic Support Contract Sent Back to NSF After GAO Protest Ruling
  Protests · 2026-09-23

  GAO found NSF improperly credited KBR with an affiliate's experience in the $8 billion Antarctic support contract award over rival bidder Battelle, ordering a new evaluation and so…

• House NDAA Would Flip the Default on Defense Data Rights, Forcing Contractors to Prove Ownership
  Policy · 2026-09-23

  H.R. 8800's Section 861 would make government purpose rights the default for DoD technical data and software, requiring contractors to prove restrictive rights with 'clear and conv…

• Trump Signs New Arctic Security Pact With Denmark and Greenland — Two New US Bases, Pituffik Missile-Defense Expansion
  Policy · 2026-09-23

  Trump signed a new US-Denmark-Greenland security pact replacing the 1951 treaty, authorizing two new American bases at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig and expansion of Pituffik Space Bas…

• GSA Proposes Moving Federal Supply Schedule Ordering Rules Out of the FAR and Into New GSAR Part 538
  Policy · 2026-09-23

  GSA's Sept. 22 proposed rule would relocate Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures from FAR Subpart 8.4 to a new GSAR Part 538, part of a FAR Council overhaul that also strips…

• Trump's FBI Shut Down a $900,000 Pay-to-Play Probe Into Defense Contractor Navatek
  Enforcement · 2026-09-23

  The FBI's elite public-corruption squad was building a case on Navatek's political donations to more than a dozen lawmakers when Director Kash Patel dismantled the unit, closing th…

• State Department Clears $2.3B Sale of 21 UH-60M Black Hawks to Norway, Sikorsky as Prime
  Policy · 2026-09-23

  DSCA notified Congress of a $2.3B Foreign Military Sale equipping Norway's Army and Special Operations Forces with 21 UH-60M Black Hawks, engines, countermeasures and radios, with …

• SBA Size Standard Overhaul Draws 67,000 Comments, Mostly Opposed, as Window Closes
  Policy · 2026-09-22

  SBA's proposal to reset small-business size standards across 338 industries drew 67,220 public comments and an 8-to-1 opposition ratio, with a House committee leader and SBA's own …

• CFTC's Bridge Lease at 3 Lafayette Centre Survives GAO Protest From Rival Landlord
  Protests · 2026-09-21

  GAO denied MEPT/FCP Patriots Plaza's protest of CFTC's sole-source bridge lease with Beacon Capital, rejecting a pretext claim as outside its jurisdiction and finding the protester…

• OFCCP Drops Disability Self-ID Mandate and 7% Hiring Goal for Contractors, Effective Monday
  Policy · 2026-09-21

  A Sept. 21, 2026 OFCCP final rule rescinds Section 503's mandatory disability self-identification requirement, discontinues Form CC-305, and drops the 7% workforce utilization goal…

• DHS Locks In Two-Year Domestic PPE Sourcing Mandate Starting Oct. 19
  Policy · 2026-09-21

  DHS finalized a rule requiring domestic sourcing and two-year minimum contract terms for PPE purchases under the Make PPE in America Act, effective Oct. 19, while using nonavailabi…

• $64M Navy SeaPort NxG Task Order Survives GAO Protest Over Corrosion-Control Experience
  Protests · 2026-09-21

  GAO denied B&N Capital Suppliers' protest of a roughly $64 million Navy SeaPort NxG task order, ruling the Navy reasonably found B&N's proposal technically unacceptable for…

• Air Force's 'Megatron' Battle Network IDIQ Gets a Small-Business Pool and a Sept. 30 Feedback Deadline
  Policy · 2026-09-19

  The Air Force is building a multiple-award IDIQ called Megatron for the DAF Battle Network, with a small-business pool and an unrestricted pool. Draft SOW feedback is due Sept. 30,…

• $299M Army Guard Training Order Stays With Valiant as GAO Backs a Tougher Second Read of CSA's Proposal
  Protests · 2026-09-19

  GAO denied CSA Global's protest of the Army's $299.2M Army National Guard MCTSP task order to incumbent Valiant. Evaluators found a new staffing risk in CSA's proposal during a cor…