Rb. O'Keeffe, Where there's smoke ... who should bear the burden when a competing contractor hires former government employees?, MILIT LAW R, 164, 2000, pp. 1-134
The federal government's procurement system should be protected from both t
he corrupting influence of actual impropriety, and the corrosive effects of
procurements tainted by the appearance of impropriety
The current rules governing the hiring of a former government employee who,
while he was in government service, had official duties involving a requir
ement satisfied by procurement through a contract, by a firm competing for
award of such contract, do not adequately protect the integrity of the gove
rnment procurement system, or the interests of other contractors.
The rules should recognize the full scope of government duties relating to
a requirement that could confer an unfair competitive advantage upon the co
ntractor employing a former government employee, and they should impose the
burden of establishing the propriety of the hiring decision and duty assig
nment with regard to the former government employee primarily upon the cont
ractor who hired him. Such a regime would best harmonize the government's i
nterests in integrity, mission accomplishment, mid competition.