Welcome to the Government Contracts Insights Blog

Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts Insights blog provides an in-depth analysis of news, developments, and trends impacting government contracting and procurement. Through Insights, attorneys from our nationally recognized Government Contracts and Public Procurement practice will offer a real-time assessment of the statutory, regulatory, legal, and business-related developments that are shaping the industry. This blog will also examine a full array of U.S. and non-U.S. public procurement issues, mindful that our clients compete in a global marketplace.

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January 17, 2023 - False Claims Act
Supreme Court to Consider the False Claims Act’s Intent Standard
By: Victoria Dalcourt Angle, J. Alex Ward, Adam L. Braverman and Joseph R. Palmore
On Friday, January 13, the Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the False Claims Act (“FCA”) covers compliance lapses tied to regulatory interpretations that are incorrect but “objectively reasonable.” The Supreme Court granted petitions for writs of certiorari in two cases, United States ex
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January 16, 2023 - Federal Procurement
A Bluer Shade of Blue: All “outstandings” Are Not Created Equal
By: James A. Tucker
A common mistake in competitive procurements is a mechanical fixation on the adjectival ratings, color ratings, or numerical “scores” a procuring agency assigns a proposal under a particular evaluation factor. In best value tradeoff acquisitions, one often hears (from both contractors and government personnel)
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January 13, 2023 - Protests & Litigation
December 2022 Bid Protest Roundup: Misrepresentations of Key Personnel, Mandatory-Source Saga Continued
By: Victoria Dalcourt Angle
This month’s Bid Protest Roundup considers two recent protests: (1) an important decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) concerning the awardee’s misrepresentation of the availability of key personnel, and (2) a U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) protest on remand from the
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December 21, 2022 - Coronavirus
Fifth Circuit Affirms Preliminary Injunction of Contractor Vaccine Mandate
A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on December 19, 2022, upheld a preliminary injunction of Executive Order 14042, halting the Biden administration’s effort to impose on federal contractors a variety of COVID-19 safety protocols. Over the dissent
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December 08, 2022 - Protests & Litigation
November 2022 Bid Protest Roundup: Best-Value Tradeoffs, Solicitations
By: Markus Gerhard Speidel
Sometimes a comparison of cases best illustrates the law. This month we analyze a double pair of recent GAO decisions. First, in CharDonnay and Triple Canopy , we compare decisions dissecting the merits of best-value determinations. Second, in Orlans and Cellco , we contrast pre-award challenges to
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December 07, 2022 - Intellectual Property
THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR: Unrecognized and Overt Pressure on Contractors' Data and Software Rights: Risks Posed by H Clauses, Innocuous Acronyms (IPT, IDE, SaaS, DAL), and The Cloud
What do you really know about the data and software rights your engineers may well be giving up every day through Integrated Data Environments, Integrated Products Teams, the Cloud and such? Probably not enough, suggests Jay DeVecchio in an article for The Government Contractor discussing
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November 11, 2022 - Acquisition Regulations
White House Announces Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule
By: Markus Gerhard Speidel
The Biden Administration unveiled details regarding a forthcoming proposed Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission disclosures for major federal suppliers on November 10, 2022. Titled the “Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule,” the proposed FAR rule would impose emission disclosure
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November 09, 2022 - Protests & Litigation
October 2022 Bid Protest Roundup: 'Late-Is-Late' Rule, Compensation Plans
By: Roke Iko
This month’s Bid Protest Roundup focuses on one recent Court of Federal Claims decision and two Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions. These decisions involve (1) interpretations of the “late-is-late” rule, (2) past performance evaluation requirement under FAR 16.505, and (3) required evaluation of proposed
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November 07, 2022 - Protests & Litigation
Deciphering the GAO’s Bid Protest Statistics for FY 2022
By: James A. Tucker
Each year around this time, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publishes its annual report to Congress on bid protests. Earlier this week, the GAO published the report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. The following are the updated statistics at a glance, in the
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October 28, 2022 - Health Care
U.S. Government Launches Billion-Dollar Biomedical Agency
By: Tina D. Reynolds
New Agency Sets Ambitious Goals to Transform Biomedicine and Health As part of the Biden Administration’s ongoing efforts to spur innovation and research, it has championed the creation of a new sub-agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Advanced Research Projects
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