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 08, 2019 - Federal Procurement, National Security
Senate Bill Demonstrates Continued Interest in the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain
By: Damien C. Specht and Locke Bell
For years, United States security agencies have recognized a threat to government information technology systems posed by contractor supply chains. The Government has struggled, however, to balance national security assessments of a contractor’s supply chain (which may include classified or otherwise sensitive information) against
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January 07, 2019 - Protests & Litigation
2018 Protest Roundup
By: Victoria Dalcourt Angle
In this post, we not only provide our regular recap of key protest decisions from December 2018, but also discuss some of the key decisions from 2018 as well as a few take-aways from the GAO’s Fiscal Year 2018 report on its bid protest
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December 21, 2018 - Federal Procurement, Labor & Employment
Contractors Should Prepare for Potential Shutdown
By: Kathy C. Weinberg and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
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
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November 26, 2018 - Small Business
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,
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November 07, 2018 - Acquisition Regulations, Protests & Litigation, Compliance
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
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October 03, 2018 - Acquisition Regulations, Protests & Litigation, Compliance
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
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October 01, 2018 - Compliance
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
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September 24, 2018 - Protests & Litigation, Defense, Compliance
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,
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August 09, 2018 - Federal Procurement, Protests & Litigation, Compliance
“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
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July 24, 2018 - Protests & Litigation
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
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Welcome to the Government Contracts Insights Blog

Senate Bill Demonstrates Continued Interest in the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain

By: Damien C. Specht and Locke Bell

2018 Protest Roundup

By: Victoria Dalcourt Angle

Contractors Should Prepare for Potential Shutdown

By: Kathy C. Weinberg and Victoria Dalcourt Angle

New Decisions Clarify Small Business Minority Shareholder Protections

By: Damien C. Specht, James A. Tucker and Victoria Dalcourt Angle

Of Human Bondage and Christian Doctrine

By: James A. Tucker

GAO Sharpening its Blade [Strategies] on OTA Review

By: Locke Bell and Victoria Dalcourt Angle

If You’re Not Early, You’re Late: Meeting Deadlines in Federal Procurements

By: James A. Tucker

Increased Security Risks May Be a Cardinal Change

By: J. Alex Ward, Charles L. Capito and Victoria Dalcourt Angle

“Workin’ Nine to Five” – But Not in a Government Office: Requesting a Debriefing

By: James A. Tucker

Corporate Transactions as a Basis for Protest (Post-Award Protest Primer #18)

By: Damien C. Specht and James A. Tucker