Most protests involve competitive procurements and the many rules governing how agencies are to conduct such procurements. In certain circumstances, agencies are permitted to bypass some of these rules and limit competition. But, as GAO noted in a recently issued sustain decision, the authority to use noncompetitive procedures does not provide the agency carte blanche.
Continue Reading GAO Finds Authority to Use Noncompetitive Procedures Is Not Carte Blanche
On March 26, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that defense contractor MORSECORP Inc. (MORSE) will pay $4.6 million to settle allegations that MORSE violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by failing to comply with cybersecurity requirements and subsequently submitting false or fraudulent claims for payment in its contracts with the Departments of the Army and Air Force. This is the first FCA settlement that is based on a defense contractor’s failure to reevaluate and promptly update its self-assessment score in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) after a third-party assessment resulted in a lower score.
Continue Reading For Better or MORSE: Another Settlement Under DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative
On March 12, 2025, the Government of Canada announced plans to launch the Canadian Program for Cyber Security Certification (CPCSC). CPCSC is a cybersecurity compliance verification program that aims to protect sensitive unclassified government information handled by Canadian government contractors and subcontractors within Canada’s defense sector. Canada will roll out CPCSC to contractors in four phases, with the first phase launching this month.
Continue Reading Canadian CMMC? Canada Proposes Cyber Compliance Regime for Canadian Defense Suppliers
This week’s episode features a deep dive on the President’s Executive Order, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement, which directs the consolidation of certain types of “domestic federal procurement” under the General Services Administration in an effort to “eliminate waste and duplication.” This episode is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.
Click below to listen or access from one of these links:
PodBean | SoundCloud | iTunes
On March 24, 2025, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) unveiled “FedRAMP 20x,” a proposal to make FedRAMP more efficient by automating FedRAMP security assessments and continuous monitoring, simplifying required technical controls, and leaning on industry to provide tooling and solutions to support automation.
Continue Reading FedRAMP 20x: Proposed Framework Aims To Increase Automation and Efficiency
On March 20, 2025, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”), “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement,” to consolidate domestic civilian contracting for “common goods and services” within one agency—the General Services Administration (“GSA”). The EO defines “common goods and services” as those described in the Category Management system first developed as part of a previous effort, dating back to 2014, to coordinate spending across the government.
Continue Reading Trump’s Government Contracts Rebrand: From “Government” Procurement to “Just-GSA” Procurements
The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice will keep you up to date with a summary of the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month. Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s decision in Metris LLC, in which GAO sustained a protest challenging agency corrective action.
Continue Reading February 2025 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: A Successful Corrective Action Challenge
United States Attorneys’ Offices recently announced a number of False Claims Act (FCA) settlements arising out of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). These settlements reveal several trends that PPP loan recipients should be aware of.
Continue Reading Recent Deluge of Paycheck Protection Program False Claims Act Settlements
This week’s episode features a deep dive on the President’s Executive Order, Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Cost Efficiency Initiative, which imposes significant requirements and will likely impact many government contractors and grantees. This episode is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.
Click below to listen or access from one of these links:
PodBean | SoundCloud | iTunes
New consultancy helps contractors with full life cycle of U.S. federal procurement.
Crowell & Moring is pleased to announce the launch of a new consultancy, Crowell GovCon Strategies. The new consultancy provides integrated business and legal solutions to guide companies through the strategy, pursuit, and execution of federal procurements.
Continue Reading Crowell & Moring Launches Crowell GovCon Strategies