July 2025

The Legal Beat aims to deliver valuable insights, resources, and crucial reminders tailored specifically for the attorneys who support state central procurement.

Have content ideas for future newsletters? Reach out to Megan Smyth. 

Big Things Ahead in NASPO Legal Education!

We’ve been working behind the scenes to give Legal Education a fresh new look — and it’s almost ready. Keep an eye out for all the new and exciting things coming for the Legal Education Department.

Register for July Attorney Call

July 31st | 2:00 PM ET

Jessica Tillipman from GW Law will be joining us to discuss Organizational Conflicts of Interest. 

Register for the July call in the NASPO Attorney Network!

Check out the network for questions from your colleagues and updates on all things Legal Education. 

SAVE THE DATE!

2025 NASPO Law Institute and Attorney Bootcamp

November 4-6, 2025

Savannah, GA

Mark your calendars now to enjoy learning, networking, and partnering with procurement attorneys from all around the country!

Bootcamp will be held on November 4^th, and Law Institute will be November 5-6^th.

Pulse Blog - "Accessibility by Design: Preparing for Website ADA Compliance Deadlines with the Right Tools” 

More than 21.3% of Americans rely on assistive technologies such as screen readers, closed captions, or keyboard navigation.

Learn more about how the final ruling issued by the Department of Justice requiring all state and local governments to meet and strengthen web and mobile accessibility standards under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

Additional Resource Coming Soon: NASCIO & NASPO Webinar

NASPO recently held a webinar in conjunction with NASCIO (National Association of State Chief Information Officers) discussing this important topic and sharing key points on the compliance requirements for states and suppliers. This webinar will be hosted exclusively on our Procurement U learning management system.

Sign up now for Procurement U and look for the video of the webinar to be posted very soon! While you’re in there… check out the many courses Procurement U has available!

Have resources to add? Please submit them here and we will include them in an update!

NASCIO

Last month, NASCIO released a new paper on how vocational, prison-based cybersecurity education programs can address cybersecurity workforce shortages, reduce recidivism, and increase inclusion with the industry. The public sector cybersecurity workforce is facing critical shortages and this paper proposes an idea for a potential solution! 

Artificial Intelligence

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives, used legally purchased books to train its AI model, Claude, and the Northern District of California just issued a ruling stating that was not a violating of U.S. copyright law. Judge Alsup wrote that the use of copyright books to train its language learning model (LLM) was “quintessentially transformative” and did not violate fair use. Anthropic may have also downloaded millions of books illegally, which is the subject of a separate lawsuit with a trial in December. Stay tuned for more on this emerging area of case law in the intellectual property area.

NEW State Law

Hawaii has a new law that “significantly expands the scope of the state’s lobbying law to cover procurement activities.” The law was part of a bigger ethics reform effort throughout the state and includes an enforcement mechanism – contracts entered into in violation of the state lobbying law will be voidable at the option of the state of Hawaii. This means “a government contractor that fails to appropriately register and submit lobbying reports after engaging in procurement lobbying risks giving its state counterparty a unilateral right to void the contract, in addition to civil penalties of $5,000 per violation.”  

Procurement News Abroad

In February of this year the Procurement Act of 2023 came into effect in the European Union (EU). The reforms made are meant to focus on transparency, simplification, and value for money, among other things. The Act also requires Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for contracts over a certain value to monitor supplier performance, introduces new rules for excluding or debarring suppliers who fail to meet standards and/or pose unacceptable risks, and requires the publication of “transparency notices” at various stages of the procurement process. 

One key change is allowing contracting authorities to design their own competitive tendering process, offering flexibility in how they engage with suppliers and award contracts – known as the Competitive Flexible Procedure (CFP). Interested? Read more about this new law by clicking the buttons below. 

Call for Volunteers!

The ABA is partnering with NASPO to update the Model Procurement Code, last revised over 20 years ago. If you are interested in being on an Article Committee, please reach out to Micaela Fischer, Assistant Director, Model Procurement Code.

Model Procurement Code Article Committees You Can Join