Speaker: Barbara Richon, Chief Policy Incurred Cost, Defense Contract Audit Agency

Speaker: Jim Thomas. Partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers

Speaker: Pam Mazza, Piliero Mazza PLLC

This session will focus on M&A legal issues unique to government contractors.  Strategies for deal structure and how to prepare for both sell-side and buy-side due diligence will be discussed.  After closing a deal, government contractors have to address contract novation and other post closing integration issues.  M&A transactions for government contractors present surprise regulatory compliance issues and how to foresee and resolve these matters will also be covered.

Speaker: Tom Tollerton, CISSP, CISA, QSA,  Dixon Hughes Goodman LLC

The federal government has demonstrated increased focus on the ability of its partners in the private sector to protect sensitive, but unclassified information.  In 2016, the Department of Defense finalized DFARS 252.204-7012, requiring contractors to achieve compliance with 14 specific control objectives defined in NIST Special Publication 800-171 (Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations) no later than December 31, 2017.  As that date rapidly approaches, contractors should be assessing their current cybersecurity posture and remediating any gaps preventing full compliance with the NIST publication.  Failure to demonstrate compliance or a detailed roadmap to compliance by the December 31deadline could impact an contractor’s ability to be awarded or retain contracts.

Speaker: Ron Poussard, COO, Applied Federal Contract Associates, LLC

This session is about the Small Business Administration’s new Small Business Mentor-Protégé Program. I will provide an overview of the program, some practical strategies for approaching the program and address questions from the audience.

Speaker: Jay Devecchio, Partner, Morrison & Foerster