Missing Data Hinders Contractor Disclosure Rule Nine Years In(1)

Fred Levy is quoted in a Federal Contracts Report article regarding the effectiveness of the Mandatory Disclosure Rule, enacted almost a decade ago. “I’ve heard anecdotally that some government people complain that they get mostly the small stuff, and that there must be bigger matters out there,” says Levy. “On the other hand, from my perspective as somebody who works with contractors, I can tell you that the disclosure requirement is ingrained in them,” he adds. “They know the rule, they understand the rule, and almost uniformly, when an issue pops up, they ask, ‘Is this a disclosure matter? And if I do make a disclosure, is it to the IG, or is to the contracting officer?’ My clients err on the side of disclosure.”

Before the disclosure rule was adopted, Levy says, “There was concern that contractors would tend to characterize matters as not involving fraud — that contractors would dump an issue on a contracting officer, and would try to avoid it being brought to the attention of DOJ or the IGs, and yet get the benefits of having disclosed it.” But it’s a different story now, he notes. “I haven’t heard anybody, since the inception of the rule, talking about soft disclosures as an issue."