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New Mandatory Disclosure Rule

BY Michael G. Scheininger
June 30, 2009

You're in-house counsel at an aerospace components manufacturer supplying the federal government. A supervisor in your quality assurance group has just told you that he believes some workers in his group have not been performing tests on components at the intervals required. The details are sketchy, based mainly on overheard conversations.

Normally, your next steps would be pretty clear: issue a document hold, gather records, interview employees (careful to advise them that your communications with them are privileged), and then, based on the evidence and the company's assessment of risks and benefits, determine the appropriate course of action, possibly including a voluntary disclosure.

But since Dec. 12, 2008, the ability of company counsel to make such independent judgments and to advocate on behalf of their clients has been co-opted. That was the effective date of an amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which covers almost anyone who contracts to provide products or services to the federal government. The amended rule requires mandatory self-disclosure for government contractors under certain conditions on pain of suspension or debarment. This, in turn, has implications for how internal investigations are conducted.

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