In the extensive chatter since the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (“FAR Council”) published an interim rule on the new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.204-27, “Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application,”...more
Forty-five years after enactment of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (CDA), contractors and agencies still often struggle to identify what is and isn’t a CDA claim—a term the CDA itself does not define. Until the CDA’s...more
Some of you may recall the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 from nearly a decade ago. It amended the Small Business Act (SBA) to allow a contractor, under certain circumstances, to receive...more
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued an important new decision in the protest of AttainX,Inc ., B-421216, B-421216.2, Jan. 23, 2023, 2023 WL 1860802. The decision addresses how agencies must evaluate the...more
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) popular shields from affiliation for all-small and mentor-protégé joint ventures are powerful tools for helping small businesses succeed in the federal procurement marketplace. These...more
A common mistake in competitive procurements is a mechanical fixation on the adjectival ratings, color ratings, or numerical “scores” a procuring agency assigns a proposal under a particular evaluation factor. In best value...more
Each year around this time, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publishes its annual report to Congress on bid protests. Earlier this week, the GAO published the report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022....more
As of this posting, Congress has not yet reauthorized the popular Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Given the broad bipartisan support for these programs, most...more
In this month’s bid protest roundup, we consider: (1) an exception to the normal rule governing reliance on affiliate experience and past performance; and (2) two different bid protests of very similar solicitation terms that...more
9/13/2022
/ Bid Protests ,
Court of Federal Claims ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Joint Venture ,
Past Performance ,
Registration Requirement ,
Solicitation ,
Subcontractors ,
System For Award Management (SAM) ,
US State Departments
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently promulgated a final rule addressing past performance ratings for small business joint venture members and small business first-tier subcontractors. The rule, which will go...more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a Final Rule adopting changes to how a concern calculates its number of employees for eligibility purposes in all of SBA’s programs, as well as how a...more
In the seminal decision Blue & Gold Fleet, L.P. v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that “a party who has the opportunity to object to the terms of a government solicitation containing a...more
Due diligence is an important preliminary step before one company acquires another or an investor puts millions behind an existing firm. When a target company performs government contracts or subcontracts, it is critical that...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued a final rule to add the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act’s enhanced post-award debriefing rights to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement...more
This month’s roundup considers three recent protests: (1) an important decision by the Court of Federal Claims rejecting controversial precedents of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) concerning key personnel...more
An interesting new bid protest decision from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims articulates a rule for pre-award key personnel unavailability that is very different from the one employed by the U.S. Government Accountability...more
The General Services Administration’s Federal Supply Schedule contracts are an efficient method for agencies across the Government to meet their needs for many commercially available supplies and services. For requirements...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued its long-awaited decision in Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC v. United States, vacating a bid protest decision the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rendered nearly two...more
Since our October 14, 2021 webinar, much has developed in the rapidly evolving compliance world of Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (“EO” or “EO 14042”). In case you...more
11/12/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
COFC ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Davis-Bacon Act ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
GWACs ,
HUD ,
NASA ,
OMB ,
OSHA ,
Prime Contractor ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Service Contract Act ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
After a five-year wait, small business subcontracting rules that the Small Business Administration (SBA) promulgated in 2016 will finally appear in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and new solicitations. Chief among...more
Section 818 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY 2018 NDAA) ushered in enhanced post-award debriefing requirements for covered Department of Defense (DOD) procurements. DOD formally implemented...more
This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight considers: (1) a company’s successful challenge to an agency’s decision to take corrective action and reopen a competition the company had already won; (2) a...more
3/12/2021
/ Appeals ,
Army ,
Automatic Stay ,
Bid Proposals ,
Bid Protests ,
COFC ,
Corporate Conversions ,
Corrective Actions ,
Debriefing ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Dismissals ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
GAO ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
LPTA ,
Name Changes ,
Offerors ,
Solicitation
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a precedential decision in NIKA Technologies, Inc. v. United States, reversing a decision by the Court of Federal Claims on the timelines for securing a stay of contract...more
Both houses of Congress now have voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. Although the threat of a presidential veto still hangs over the NDAA, we highlight below a few of the...more
12/15/2020
/ Bid Protests ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
DFARS ,
Federal Contractors ,
Financing ,
NDAA ,
Progress Payments ,
SBA ,
Small Business ,
Software ,
Subcontractors
The National Institute for Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) released its draft request for proposals (the “Draft RFP”) for the new $40 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and...more