Charlie Sciuto October 6, 2025 1:31 pm The MORSECORP settlement shows that cybersecurity lapses are now legal and financial liabilities — not just technical ones. When the Justice Department announced a $4.6 million False Claims Act (FCA) settlement with defense contractor MORSECORP, Inc. (MORSE) this spring, it sent a clear message to the defense industrial base: […]
Author Archives: Victor Valdez
By Mary Jo Juarez, APEX Accelerator Advisor at Kitsap Economic Development Alliance The stopgap funding measure keeping the federal government running is expired on September 30. While Congress continued to work on a solution that is agreeable on how to handle funding for fiscal year 2026, the deadline was not met. There have been 21 […]
WATSONVILLE, Calif. – Granite (NYSE:GVA), a construction company with a market capitalization of $4.76 billion and “GREAT” financial health according to InvestingPro metrics, has been awarded a $39 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for construction of Reach 6 of the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, according to a press release statement. […]
Construction disputes continue to rise in 2025. Yet the complications that trigger those disputes usually boil down to payment, changes, timelines or schedules and quality of work. This is why how a contract is written matters. On construction projects, the unexpected usually occurs. A properly written contract can eliminate many of the potential areas of […]
Pentagon to officially implement CMMC requirements in contracts by Nov. 10 The amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement marks the near end of a years-long effort to enforce CMMC 2.0 cybersecurity standards for defense contractors. The Pentagon has posted the much-anticipated updated rule that will require contracts to implement Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification […]
The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday announced a plan to accelerate the process of laying the first tracks on the state’s beleaguered infrastructure project. The Authority’s board of directors approved a process that invites bids from U.S. manufacturers to acquire high-speed rail track and other required system components, officials said. The materials will be used to […]
President Donald Trump last week ordered federal agencies to overhaul their procurement systems and regulations. It’s the biggest effort to modernize how federal agencies buy products and services since Congress passed the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act and the Federal Acquisition Reform Act into law in the ’90s, according to Federal News Network. Trump’s April 15 executive order said the […]
In a March 20 executive order, President Trump directed federal agencies to submit plans to consolidate procurement for “common goods and services” under the General Services Administration, which puts the agency in charge of contracts in 10 broad market categories that were worth $495 Billion in fiscal 2024. Together, these contracts represented 64% of total […]
The massive changes coming from the Trump administration have disrupted global markets and caused many businesses to put a pause on major decisions. Officials at the state and local levels are either following the federal government’s lead with similar changes and disruptions, or they are just waiting to see what comes next. More
OTAs have been around since the beginnings of NASA and the Advanced Research Project Agency. But it is the 2016 defense policy bill that allowed the widespread adoption of OTAs. The proliferation of OTAs allowed the Defense Department and other agencies to buy products and services outside of the constraints of the cumbersome and lengthy […]