We recently discussed the Federal Circuit’s decision in Global K9 Protection Group, LLC v. United States and the importance of intervening in bid protests, especially when an awardee’s interests may diverge from the government’s. Now, a more recent Court of Federal Claims decision, West Pacific-CMCS JV v. United States, provides additional guidance regarding intervention by a contract awardee.
Continue Reading Recent Court Decisions Provide Intervention Insights
Crowell & Moring’s “All Things Protest” podcast keeps you up to date on major trends in bid protest litigation, key developments in high-profile cases, and best practices in state and federal procurement. In this episode, Crowell’s Christian Curran, Zachary Schroeder, and Bryan Dewan discuss a recent Federal Circuit appeal on the Blue & Gold waiver rule, and a Court of Federal Claims protest about the “late is late” rule in the world of electronic proposal submissions.
Continue Reading All Things Protest: Blue & Gold and Late is Late
In Utech, Inc. v. United States, No. 24-1586 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that in most cases, a pre-award protest must be filed before the proposal submission deadline to avoid the Blue & Gold waiver rule. This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal submission deadline.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Clarifies Application of Blue & Gold: Proposal Submission Deadline, Not Award, is the Operative Time for Filing
As part of its ongoing effort to conform the Cost Accounting Standards (“CAS”) to generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), the CAS Board published a final rule rescinding CAS 408 (Accounting for costs of compensated personal absence) and CAS 411 (Accounting for acquisition costs of material). The CAS Board also rescinded CAS 404 (Capitalization of tangible assets) and CAS 409 (Depreciation of tangible capital assets) but retained certain requirements of CAS 404 and 409, which will be located in new paragraphs of CAS 405 (Accounting for unallowable costs). Specifically, the CAS Board retained the requirements currently located at CAS 404-50(d)(1), CAS 409-50(e)(5), CAS 409-50(j)(1), and CAS 409-50(j)(4), which the CAS Board explained are necessary to protect the Government’s interests. Otherwise, the CAS Board determined that the requirements of CAS 404, 408, 409, and 411 overlapped with GAAP such that GAAP “may be applied reasonably as a substitute for CAS to support contract cost and pricing.”
Continue Reading CAS Board Publishes Final Rule Rescinding CAS 404, 408, 409, and 4117
On June 25, 2026, the Federal Risk & Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) launched its Consolidated Rules for 2026, marking a significant turning point in how the U.S. government administers security authorizations of private sector cloud offerings. The Consolidated Rules apply to all variants of the FedRAMP ecosystem, including legacy “Rev5” authorization holders, as well as future certifications under the new 20x program. Importantly, the Rules are intended in part to transition Rev5 authorizations over to 20x, with the Rev5 authorization status expected to terminate by the end of 2028.
Continue Reading Time for a Change: FedRAMP Fundamentally Revamps Program With Consolidated Rules for 2026
On July 2, 2026, the Department of War (DoW) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) setting out a framework to implement the prohibition on acquisition of covered printed circuit boards (PCBs) from “covered nations”—North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran—enacted under sections 841 and 851 of the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs) for Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022, respectively, and codified at 10 U.S.C. § 4873. DoW invites industry to respond to specific questions and provide comments on the ANPR by August 31, 2026.
Continue Reading At Long Last, DoW Signals Rule Implementing PCB Prohibition and Commercial Exemptions
On June 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that LOGZONE Inc., a defense contractor based in Huntsville, Alabama, agreed to pay $507,144 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by knowingly failing to satisfy cybersecurity requirements in its contracts with the U.S. Department of the Navy. The resolution is the latest action under DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative and the first publicly reported settlement this fiscal year. It underscores a continued enforcement posture in which noncompliance with contractual cybersecurity obligations serves as the basis for potential FCA liability. Notably, this settlement did not arise from a whistleblower complaint but from a government-initiated assessment, signaling to contractors that proactive government assessments can pose enforcement consequences.
Continue Reading Logged Out: How LOGZONE’s DIBCAC Challenges Put It Squarely in DOJ’s Crosshairs
A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision dismissing three pre-award protests as untimely highlights an important procedural trap for would-be protesters. In Oready, LLC, GAO dismissed three protests filed one business day too late, even though they were submitted prior to the solicitation closing date and time.
Continue Reading Timing Is Everything: GAO Dismisses Three Protests Filed Before the Solicitation Deadline but After GAO’s Daily Cutoff Time
The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series. In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice keeps you up to date with a summary of one of the most notable bid protest decisions each month. Below, Crowell Consultant (and former GAO Bid Protest Hearing Officer) Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s May 2026 decision in Mission Analytics, LLC—Recon., where a protest filing that missed GAO’s deadline by just 50 seconds set off a chain of procedural missteps that ultimately produced five dismissals across a single procurement, and offers some of the most practical filing guidance GAO has put to paper in recent memory.
Continue Reading May 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: In a Sustain-less Month, a Masterclass in How Not to Protest
On June 5, 2026, President Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) 11 (NSPM-11) to accelerate AI adoption by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. It directs updated AI management, acquisition, and use policies and seeks to compel AI companies to comply with Trump administration policies. It calls for expanded training and enhanced security in collaboration with the private sector and orders the “termination for default or for convenience” of government contracts with AI companies that wish to limit how the government uses their products. NSPM-11 could also herald a major change in autonomous warfighting policy by directing the update of the Pentagon’s primary directive on autonomous weapon systems.
Continue Reading National Security Memorandum Aims to Accelerate Deployment of AI and Streamline Procurement Aligned to Administration Policies