By Olivia Lynch, Rob Sneckenberg and Christian Curran on Posted in Bid Protest,Legal Developments,PodcastCrowell & 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, your hosts break down GAO’s pre- and post-award timeliness rules, as well as recent changes to GAO’s regulations and DoD… Continue Reading
By Anuj Vohra, Mark Ries, Christian Curran, Rob Sneckenberg, Rosamond Xiang and Payal Nanavati on Posted in Bid ProtestOn April 2, 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published Final Rule 83 FR 13817, amending its bid protest regulations to implement the Electronic Protest Docketing System, make administrative and clerical changes, and “streamline the bid protest process.” This Final Rule goes into effect on May 1, 2018. We detail below some key changes it… Continue Reading
By Rob Sneckenberg and Lauren Harrison on Posted in Bid Protest,Legal DevelopmentsWhen deciding where to file a bid protest, the most fundamental consideration is perhaps the most obvious one: does your desired venue have jurisdiction to hear your arguments? In a recent decision, Cleveland Assets, LLC v. United States , the Federal Circuit may have changed that analysis for certain Court of Federal Claims (COFC) bid… Continue Reading
By Olivia Lynch, Daniel Wierzba and Payal Nanavati on Posted in Legal Developments,Organizational Conflict of InterestIn the face of an actual or potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI), the potential solutions are often limited. There are several options for contractors and the government that are broadly categorized as mitigation, avoidance, neutralization, limitations on future contracting, and exclusion. Although used sparingly, the FAR also provides that the government can “waive” actual… Continue Reading
By Christian Curran, Olivia Lynch and Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid Protest,Legal DevelopmentsWith 2017 firmly in the rear-view, it’s time to take stock of recent and anticipated bid protest developments. Today, we’ll look back and highlight five of the most significant trends in 2017 bid protests. In the near future, we’ll turn our gaze forward and predict the five most important protest developments to keep an eye… Continue Reading
By Christian Curran, Olivia Lynch and Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid Protest,PodcastCrowell & 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 inaugural episode, hosts Olivia Lynch, Rob Sneckenberg, and Christian Curran cover GAO’s FY2017 bid protest statistics, the RAND Corp.’s comprehensive report… Continue Reading
By Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid Protest,Legal DevelopmentsEveryone can agree that professional employees should be compensated fairly and properly—both for the benefit of the employees and to ensure successful contract performance. However, a recent GAO decision could provide a loophole for agencies to forego the very evaluation designed to ensure that fair and proper compensation. Contractors competing for work involving meaningful numbers… Continue Reading
By David B. Robbins and Peter J. Eyre on Posted in Cybersecurity,False Claims,PodcastThis week’s episode covers False Claims Act items, GAO protests, and cybersecurity and is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins. 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.… Continue Reading
By David B. Robbins and Peter J. Eyre on Posted in Cybersecurity,Legal Developments,PodcastWe are still accepting questions for Ask Us Anything! Have questions you’d like answered anonymously? Want our thoughts in general on a particular topic? Send in questions and we’ll do our best to feature them in a future podcast. Email your questions to David at drobbins@crowell.com. Disclaimer: we cannot give legal advice unless and until… Continue Reading
By Peter J. Eyre and David B. Robbins on Posted in Legal Developments,PodcastCrowell & 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. This latest edition is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins and includes updates on CFIUS, DSS, DFARS safeguarding, and NAICS. … Continue Reading
By Peter J. Eyre, David B. Robbins and Olivia Lynch on Posted in Cybersecurity,Legal Developments,PodcastCrowell & 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. This latest edition is hosted by partner Peter Eyre and counsel Olivia Lynch and includes updates on GAO reports on cybersecurity, a… Continue Reading
By David B. Robbins and Peter J. Eyre on Posted in Legal Developments,PodcastCrowell & 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. This latest edition is hosted by partners David Robbins and Peter Eyre and includes updates on Buy American Act guidance, the NDAA… Continue Reading
By David B. Robbins and Peter J. Eyre on Posted in Legal Developments,PodcastCrowell & 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. This latest edition is hosted by partners David Robbins and Peter Eyre and includes updates on a VA annual audit report, a… Continue Reading
By David B. Robbins and Peter J. Eyre on Posted in Cybersecurity,PodcastCrowell & 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. This latest edition is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins and includes updates on cybersecurity, a GAO report, and the… Continue Reading
By Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid ProtestOn December 15, 2016, GAO released its Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2016, including its updated Bid Protest Statistics for Fiscal Years 2012-2016. The Report, which GAO is required to submit pursuant to the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, 31 U.S.C. § 3554(e)(2), identifies the most common reasons for sustained protests in… Continue Reading
By Crowell & Moring on Posted in Legal DevelopmentsCrowell & Moring LLP is pleased to release its “2016 Litigation & Regulatory Forecasts: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year.” The reports examine the trends and developments that will impact government contractors and other corporations in the coming year—from the last year of the Obama administration to how corporate litigation strategy… Continue Reading
By Amy Laderberg O'Sullivan on Posted in Bid ProtestPartner Amy O’Sullivan, in a two-part video alert series, discusses the impact that a smaller pool of procurement dollars has had on bid protest litigation, recent trends in bid protest litigation, and corrective action that is more frequently a procuring agency’s response to a bid protest. Both videos are embedded below for viewing. For a… Continue Reading
By Dalal Hasan on Posted in Legal DevelopmentsOn June 1, 2015, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (“OFPP”) released a Memorandum for Chief Acquisition Officers and Senior Procurement Executives to provide guidance on “Effective Use of Reverse Auctions.”[1] Reverse auctions are a web-based procurement tool that allows sellers to compete with successively lower bids to obtain awards for products and services. Although… Continue Reading
By Olivia Lynch on Posted in Bid Protest(contributed to by Derek R. Mullins) When protesting to the Government Accountability Office, contractors must satisfy GAO’s “interested party” rule. In other words, a protester must be an actual or prospective bidder or offeror with a direct economic interest in the procurement. In post-award protests, it is expected that the entity that files a protest… Continue Reading
By Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid ProtestIn its annual report to Congress under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, 31 U.S.C. § 3554(e)(2), GAO disclosed the following bid protest statistics for FYs 2009-2013: For the first time since FY 2006, the number of cases filed in FY 2013 decreased from the previous year (the FY 2005 – FY 2009 statistics,… Continue Reading
By Grant J. Book on Posted in Legal DevelopmentsAlthough the Government shut down on October 1, 2013, contractors must remain diligent in analyzing their protests, claims, and other litigation matters to ensure key deadlines are not missed. Importantly, while some Government offices are closed, most courts (including the Court of Federal Claims and the Federal Circuit) remain open and the Armed Services Board… Continue Reading
By Rob Sneckenberg on Posted in Bid ProtestFixed-price contracts allow the government to purchase goods and services for set prices and allocate the cost risk of performance to the contractor—if the contractor offers to perform the work for too low of a price, then it may reap little profit, or even take a loss. Thus, the government’s primary concern in evaluating fixed-price… Continue Reading
By Olivia Lynch on Posted in Bid ProtestThe Government Accountability Office recently rejected a novel argument regarding how timeliness is to be determined for GAO protests filed after an agency either dismisses or denies an agency-level protest. In finding that the timeliness of such a protest does not depend on the nature of the adverse agency action, GAO has effectively prevented an… Continue Reading
By Crowell & Moring on Posted in Bid ProtestIn another example of the Court of Federal Claims ("Court") and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reaching different conclusions, the Court sustained a $32 million protest in a recent decision brought against the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA"), whereas GAO had dismissed the protest as untimely on the grounds that LabCorp should have protested what… Continue Reading
