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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 sustain decisions each month. Below, Crowell Consultant (and former GAO Bid Protest Hearing Officer) Cherie Owen discusses GAO’s decision in Ares Enterprise, LLC, B-424548 et al., Sept. 3, 2026, which addressed a situation where an agency attempted to issue a task order that exceeded the scope of both the underlying blanket purchase agreement and the awardee’s Federal Supply Schedule contract.

Continue Reading September 2026 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month: When a Help Desk BPA Is Used to Order Full Network Operations, GAO Says No
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The Rule of Two is a vital mechanism for ensuring that contracting officers satisfy the federal government’s statutory requirement that 23% of U.S. prime contracts be issued to small businesses. FAR 19.502-2(b) (19.104-1(a) of the RFO) requires that agencies set aside procurements for small businesses when there is a reasonable expectation that at least two responsible small businesses will submit offers at fair market prices.

Continue Reading Court of Federal Claims Provides a Roadmap for Adequate Rule-of-Two Set Aside Market Research
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On September 9, 2026, the European Commission proposed a new Public Procurement Act that would fundamentally change the way that public procurement is regulated across the EU. In this alert we look at what changes have been proposed, and discuss how those changes would affect companies – whether EU-based or not — that wish to participate in European public procurement.  

Continue Reading European Commission Proposes Overhaul of EU Public Procurement Rules
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GSA & AI, Anthropic, Bid Protests

This week’s episode covers GSA’s clause on AI procurements, a Hill letter involving government contractors, a new Anthropic ruling, a memorandum proposing changes to government cost accounting, and a Federal Circuit protest decision, and 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.Listen: Crowell.com | PodBean | SoundCloud | Apple Podcasts

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Guidehouse served as the prime contractor responsible for technology services used in administering New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (“ERAP”). Under Guidehouse’s contract with the State of New York, the online ERAP portal was to undergo cybersecurity testing in its pre-production environment before it was launched to the public, and Guidehouse was required to certify that the system met the contract’s requirements. Within hours of going live, the ERAP portal exposed certain applicants’ personally identifiable information and was shut down.

Continue Reading Don’t Try to Deny It: Federal Court Holds FCA Settlement is Covered by Insurance
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Background

On September 28, 2026, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a new clause for incorporation into government contracts of artificial intelligence systems, 552.239-7001, Basic Safeguarding of Data within Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence Systems, as a GSA Regulation Deviation (the Final Clause). The Final Clause will become effective on October 19, 2026.

GSA’s efforts to regulate contractor handling of government information processed by large language models (LLM) have moved through three phases. An initial draft released in March 2026 drew substantial industry criticism for its breadth, including an outright prohibition on AI components “manufactured, developed, or controlled by non-U.S. entities.” GSA responded with a revised version published for public comment on June 17, 2026 (the June Proposed Clause), which removed the non-U.S. component prohibition, introduced role-based supply-chain definitions, and restructured IP protections.

The Final Clause contains several notable changes over the June Proposed Clause, which are summarized below. Contractors should assess the impact of these provisions on their systems in anticipation of the incorporation of the clause into GSA LLM procurements. The clause is effective October 19; however, GSA contracting officers could exercise discretion to incorporate the clause in advance of that date. 

Continue Reading GSA Issues Final Rule on Large Language Model Procurements
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Insurance Coverage for False Claims Act Investigations

Hosts Jason Crawford and Agustin Orozco are joined by special guests Steve Raptis and Caitie Young to discuss insurance coverage issues for companies responding to False Claims Act investigations. This episode describes how policyholders seeking coverage for defense costs and settlements must carefully navigate policy structures, timely notice obligations, and insurer reservations of rights. “Let’s Talk FCA” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act.

Listen: Crowell.com | PodBean | SoundCloud | Apple Podcasts 

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When an agency conducts a multiple-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) competition, successful awardees often wonder whether they can protest the agency’s award to other companies at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. For over a decade, the answer has been a murky “maybe” with various Court of Federal Claims decisions divided over the issue. But in a precedential September 16, 2026, decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Island Creek Associates, LLC v. United States resolved this split, holding that IDIQ contract awardees lack standing to challenge the IDIQ awards to fellow competitors.

Continue Reading Federal Circuit Resolves Court Split Over IDIQ Awardee Standing
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On September 1, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit issued its long-anticipated decision in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates LLC, holding that the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are constitutional because relators are not officers of the United States who occupy continuing positions established by law. The decision overturned the 2024 district court ruling that sparked a wave of constitutional challenges to qui tam suits and aligns the Eleventh Circuit with the Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits on the issue. The constitutional debate is far from over, however, as the decision is limited to the constitutionality under the Appointments Clause. The court remanded the case for further evaluation of the parties’ Take Care and Vesting Clause arguments. At the same time, similar constitutional arguments are pending in the Third Circuit, related to the largest-ever FCA judgment in a non-intervened case, and multiple Supreme Court justices have already signaled potential willingness to weigh in on the qui tam provisions’ constitutionality. Crowell’s FCA attorneys explain these developments and what’s next in a “Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor.

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On September 21, 2026, the Small Business Administration announced an extension of the comment period for two previously proposed rules that, as currently constructed, would significantly expand the pool of entities eligible to qualify for small business set-aside procurements. The extension is slated to be formally published on September 24, 2026.  While the comment period was originally to close on September 21, in response to requests for additional time, SBA has extended the comment period for an additional 60 days with comments now due by November 20, 2026.

As previously discussed (in an alert and webinar), SBA proposed on August 20, 2026, to revise its methodology for establishing size standards while at the same time proposing how SBA’s size standard table would be impacted if that new methodology were adopted. The most immediately impactful changes would be material increases to a substantial number of size standards — with some thresholds proposed to increase as much as tenfold — which would significantly alter the makeup of the small business contractor base. 

SBA has already received nearly 70,000 written comments on the two rulemakings, in addition to holding a public forum.