Most organizational conflict of interest (OCI) sustains arise where the record shows that an agency failed to analyze the potential for a conflict. But GAO’s decision in A Square Group, LLC, is a rarer type of OCI sustain: the agency considered the purported OCI and documented its conclusion that the OCI had been mitigated. However, GAO found that the agency’s conclusions were unreasonable, and the OCI risk remained.Continue Reading Agency Said Awardee Fully Mitigated OCI; GAO Says: “Nope!”
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In 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 or potential OCIs. Specifically, FAR 9.503 states: “The agency head or a designee may waive any general rule or procedure of this subpart by determining that its application in a particular situation would not be in the Government’s interest.”
A recent GAO decision sheds light on how contractors and agencies should think about OCI waivers. CACI, Inc.-Federal; General Dynamics One Source, LLC, B-413860.4, et al., Jan. 5, 2018.Continue Reading GAO Lets Stand an Agency’s OCI Waivers in Face of a Multi-Prong Challenge
With 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 on in 2018.
Continue Reading Top Five Bid Protest Topics in 2017
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. This latest edition is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins and includes updates on the budget, an FCA case in
At 1:00 pm (Eastern) on March 7, 2013, Crowell & Moring attorneys Peter Eyre and James Peyster will conduct a webinar on behalf of L2 Federal Resources entitled “Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs) and Personal Conflicts of Interest (PCIs): New and Pending Rules.” This 90-minute webinar will provide an overview of key principles of conflicts
The US Court of Federal Claims recently granted preliminary injunctive relief against a Federal contractor for an organizational conflict of interest, in a decision casting a deeply skeptical eye on an awardee’s improper access to competitor information–and the government’s lackadaisical attempt to police the impropriety.
The case, Netstar-1 Gov’t Consulting, Inc. v. United States,
On December 29, 2010, DoD issued a final amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (“DFARS”) relating to organizational conflicts of interest (“OCI”) in major defense acquisition programs. The highlights of that rule are summarized here. One of the most interesting issues is what the rule does NOT cover.
The final rule is
By now, most government contractors are (or most certainly should be) aware of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) provisions governing organizational conflicts of interest. While OCIs have been a hot issue for some time in the federal procurement world, OCIs are becoming an increasing risk area in the state procurement arena as well.
By way of
In MCR Federal, LLC, B-401954.2 (Aug. 17, 2010), GAO denied protester’s challenge to the agency’s decision, in the context of taking corrective action, to waive organizational conflicts of interest for two offerors. The agency – CIA – concluded that executing a waiver was in the government’s best interest, because the pool of qualified contractors