28 Jan 2009
This is the first in a series of "Thinking About Risk" posts directed at improving business processes among the growing number of government contractors facing the new federal compliance requirements which include mandatory disclosure regulations.
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) have become a ubiquitous part of doing business with the government and with other government contractors. Yet the proliferation of NDAs may have actually increased the risk of failure to protect and safeguard truly sensitive information such as trade secrets. While the use of NDAs provides evidence of an intent to comply with non-disclosure requirements, we must ask whether their overuse--often driven by an abundance of caution and the desire to assure the availability of a legal defense should it become necessary-- actually increases risk by undercuttting the true value of such instruments.
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) have become a ubiquitous part of doing business with the government and with other government contractors. Yet the proliferation of NDAs may have actually increased the risk of failure to protect and safeguard truly sensitive information such as trade secrets. While the use of NDAs provides evidence of an intent to comply with non-disclosure requirements, we must ask whether their overuse--often driven by an abundance of caution and the desire to assure the availability of a legal defense should it become necessary-- actually increases risk by undercuttting the true value of such instruments.
categories: Ethics and Compliance Offices, Information Integrity
