Contractors Should Prepare for Potential Shutdown
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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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- Editor’s Note: What’s old seems to be new again. We wrote the below post 11 months ago. Though the date has now changed from January 19 to December 21, the information is pertinent once again for contractors wondering what to do in the event... ›
New Decisions Clarify Small Business Minority Shareholder Protections
By: Damien C. Specht, James A. Tucker and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
One of the easiest small business affiliation rules to apply is that a person that owns “50 percent or more of a concern’s voting stock. .. controls or has the power to control the concern.” 13 C.F.R. § 121.103(c)(1). It is far more difficult, however,... ›Of Human Bondage and Christian Doctrine
By: James A. Tucker
To be clear, the bondage here is the bond requirement under Federal construction contracts, and the doctrine does not appear in the catechism but in the Court of Claims’ old decision in G. L. Christian & Associates v. United States , 312 F.2d 418... ›GAO Sharpening its Blade [Strategies] on OTA Review
By: Locke Bell and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent decision in Blade Strategies, LLC , B-416752, 2018 WL 4584111 (Comp. Gen. Sept. 24, 2018) , clarifies the GAO’s jurisdiction and standard of review for protests of other transaction agreements (OTAs), and also serves as a good reminder... ›If You’re Not Early, You’re Late: Meeting Deadlines in Federal Procurements
By: James A. Tucker
Businesses hoping to win a government contract must be familiar and comply with a host of complex timeliness rules, from the deadlines for submitting proposals and revisions, to the rules for protesting a potentially improper award to a competitor. One small slip-up may be... ›Increased Security Risks May Be a Cardinal Change
By: J. Alex Ward, Charles L. Capito and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once explained that there are the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Some greeted that gnomic pronouncement with bemused smiles. But contractors operating in a contingency environment know exactly what he was talking about. No mere mortal can accurately predict,... ›“Workin’ Nine to Five” – But Not in a Government Office: Requesting a Debriefing
By: James A. Tucker
In Exceptional Software Strategies, Inc ., B-416232 , the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently addressed the obscure rules for when a disappointed offeror must request a debriefing. It’s generally well known that, in procurements where offerors may have a right to debriefings, a disappointed... ›Corporate Transactions as a Basis for Protest (Post-Award Protest Primer #18)
By: Damien C. Specht and James A. Tucker
Most corporate transactions go forward without protests. Several prominent protest decisions over the last few years, however, have drawn attention to the complicated and sometimes unpredictable effect corporate transactions can have on pending procurements. This uncertainty is exacerbated by the (often required) secrecy around... ›Soothsaying Oracle: What GAO’s Decision Concerning DoD Prototype OTAs Means for DoD and Beyond
By: Damien C. Specht, Tina D. Reynolds, Locke Bell and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs): The term is familiar among government contractors, yet commonly misunderstood. Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), in Oracle America, Inc. , B-416061, May 31, 2018, 2018 CPD ¶ ___ , defined OTAs as “legally-binding instruments, other than contracts, grants, or... ›Unreasonableness And Lack Of Documentation (Post-Award Protest Primer #17)
By: James A. Tucker
Today’s installment of the post-award protest primer combines two frequent, related protest grounds: (1) unreasonable evaluations and source selection decisions and (2) insufficient documentation. In a future post, we’ll look more granularly at protest grounds best value tradeoffs in particular and the duties of... ›