In addition to reviewing your commercial contracts for how new or increased tariff costs are allocated, another key area to evaluate is whether either party has the right to terminate the contract. If one party gets upside...more
In its continuous drive to alter business as usual, the federal government has made many changes this year to the way it manages financial assistance (grants and cooperative agreements). Executive Order 14332, “Improving...more
The Department of Energy (DOE) has recently terminated or suspended a number of high-profile energy grants, withdrawing more than $3.7 billion in commitments for projects involving carbon capture, decarbonization, and...more
Key Takeaways - - Executive Order (EO) 14332 on “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking” reshapes the federal discretionary grant landscape by embedding ideological oversight, performance accountability, and political...more
Directs federal agencies to overhaul their grant processes by requiring senior appointees to rigorously review discretionary grants and funding announcements for alignment with national interests and agency priorities. It...more
The Department of Government Efficiency’s (“DOGE”) scrutiny of federal contracts has resulted in a spike in notices of termination for convenience. Given DOGE’s broad mandate to reduce federal spending, we expect a sustained...more
The first months of the Trump Administration have seen a flurry of executive orders related to government contracts. Many of these executive orders – as well as public statements by heads of federal agencies or the Department...more
The Trump administration, as part of its efforts to reshape the federal government, began terminating federal contracts for the convenience of the government almost immediately after coming back to town. These contract...more
A flurry of presidential directives, agency communications, and court orders has left federal contract and grant recipients with operational disruptions and in a state of confusion. As we write, it has been difficult to...more
A recent Tenth Circuit ruling in an appeal successfully defended by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck affirmed a lower court judgment arising from a termination for convenience. This decision serves as support to contractors...more
One of the most dynamic areas of the law that is of keen concern to federal contractors is the issue of employee noncompetition agreements (NCAs). Historically, NCAs were a common and valuable tool employers used to protect...more
Hanuman Chalisa, LLC v. BoMar Contr., Inc., 2022-Ohio-1111, 187 N.E.3d 1108 (Ct. App.) - Hanuman Chalisa LLC (owner) contracted BoMar Contracting, Inc. (BoMar) to construct a hotel in Columbus, OH. The contract consisted...more
Unlike private parties in a contract, the government has several unique rights that allows it to avoid its contractual obligations in certain circumstances. We have written about the government’s right to terminate contracts...more
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that FAR 52.212-4(l), the Termination for Convenience clause used in commercial items contracts, had no effect in a services contract—even though the...more
In a decision issued on November 17, JKB Solutions v. United States, the Federal Circuit held that the commercial item termination for convenience provision at FAR 52.212-4(l) incorporated by reference into a contract for...more
Although the Federal Circuit did not issue a precedential patent decision this week, there was still plenty of activity, including three grants of mandamus to transfer cases out of the Western District of Texas. Below we...more
This article first focuses on the contract administration aspects that contractors supporting operations in Afghanistan should be thinking of now to prepare for and mitigate downstream and currently unknown risks. It then...more
Imagine as a supplier of medical oxygen cylinders and tanks in your region, you enter into an arrangement with HHS or DHS to provide oxygen to nearby hospital facilities dealing with surges in the COVID-19 pandemic. However,...more
With the United States’ recent withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is only a matter of time before the government begins terminating certain federal contracts for the convenience of the government. Accordingly, government...more
It is hard to describe the manner in which the United States is withdrawing from Afghanistan. At this point, the safety and security of Americans and those who provided critical assistance to U.S. operations in Afghanistan...more
If a dispute arises on a federal contract, the Contract Disputes Act requires a contractor to submit a written demand seeking as a matter of right a “sum certain” to the contracting officer as part of the claims process. What...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 12 (December 2020) - The 120-day closeout that institutions fought for after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) first released the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost...more
Many construction contracts include a clause that allows an owner to terminate a contractor’s remaining work on a project at the owner’s convenience. And during a global pandemic and these turbulent economic times,...more
Court of Federal Claims rules that the government “constructively” terminated a contractor for convenience when it did not order the quantities specified in the contract. The “constructive termination for convenience”...more
COVID-19 supply chain disruptions and how suppliers and service providers have handled such disruptions have prompted procurement teams to reconsider whether business should be shifted away from suppliers that have performed...more