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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December 11, 2017 - Small Business
Court of Federal Claims Rejects SBA Decision That Future Conditional Restriction on Stock Ownership Destroys “unconditional Ownership”
By: Damien C. Specht and Locke Bell
Veteran-owned small businesses have long grappled with seemingly benign drafting inconsistencies between Small Business Administration (SBA) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations that can leave a business qualified as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) by VA standards, but not at the SBA
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December 05, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Discussions Vs. Clarifications Vs. Communications, and Agency Discretion (Post-award Protest Primer #12)
By: James A. Tucker
In our last post, we looked at the most common protest grounds related to discussions: lack of meaningful discussions, misleading discussions, and unequal discussions. Today we’ll discuss how discussions differ from clarifications and pre-competitive range communications, as well as the Government’s discretion to conduct
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November 13, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Non-meaningful, Misleading, and Unequal Discussions (Post-award Protest Primer #11)
By: James A. Tucker
Today’s post is the first of two installments on protest grounds related to discussions. This post will focus on the requirement that discussions be meaningful and not misleading, and treat offerors equally. The next post will look at the difference between discussions and other types of
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October 25, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Unstated Evaluation Criteria And Waived Solicitation Requirements (Bid Protest Primer #10)
By: James A. Tucker
This week we’ll discuss two protest arguments that are, in some ways, two sides of the same coin: unstated evaluation criteria and waived or relaxed solicitation requirements. In each, the focus of the protest is on what was required (or not required) by the
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September 29, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects (Post-Award Protest Primer #9)
By: James A. Tucker
Having discussed protest grounds you cannot or should not raise ( here and here ), we turn now to the first in a series of grounds that could result in a sustained protest: Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects. We’ve previously noted the rule
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September 15, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Substantively Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #8)
By: James A. Tucker
In our last post, we discussed a few procedural rules that can exclude an otherwise meritorious ground from protest. There are also a number of substantive issues that the GAO’s rules exclude from review. See 4 C.F.R. § 21.5. We address them below, plus a
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September 11, 2017 - Acquisition Regulations, Small Business
NAICS Code Appeals: One Size Does Not Fit All
By: Damien C. Specht and James A. Tucker
The federal government sets aside many contracts for small businesses, but not all small business set-asides are created equal. Instead, different size standards define small business status for different procurements. The size standards vary from industry to industry, so a given firm may be
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September 06, 2017 - Protests & Litigation, Compliance
Winning the Corrective Action, and Using Clarifications Instead of Discussions
By: J. Alex Ward and James A. Tucker
In a recent Protest Roundup, we discussed Dell Federal Systems, LP v. United States , 2017 WL 2981811 (Fed. Cl. July 3, 2017), a case in which a contractor successfully challenged the scope of the voluntary corrective action an agency took in response to
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August 31, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Procedurally Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #7)
By: James A. Tucker
Before diving into the various protest grounds that may result in a sustained protest at the GAO, let’s look at some sure losers. These are issues that are not protestable and would likely result in a quick dismissal. This week, we’ll discuss procedurally defective protests. Our next
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August 16, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Stays of Contract Award and Performance (Post-Award Protest Primer #6)
By: James A. Tucker
Today we’ll discuss stays of award and performance during the pendency of a bid protest. There are two kinds of protest stays: pre-award stays and post-award stays. Although the former are outside the scope of this primer, we’ll briefly address them first for the
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Welcome to the Government Contracts Insights Blog

Court of Federal Claims Rejects SBA Decision That Future Conditional Restriction on Stock Ownership Destroys “unconditional Ownership”

By: Damien C. Specht and Locke Bell

Discussions Vs. Clarifications Vs. Communications, and Agency Discretion (Post-award Protest Primer #12)

By: James A. Tucker

Non-meaningful, Misleading, and Unequal Discussions (Post-award Protest Primer #11)

By: James A. Tucker

Unstated Evaluation Criteria And Waived Solicitation Requirements (Bid Protest Primer #10)

By: James A. Tucker

Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects (Post-Award Protest Primer #9)

By: James A. Tucker

Substantively Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #8)

By: James A. Tucker

NAICS Code Appeals: One Size Does Not Fit All

By: Damien C. Specht and James A. Tucker

Winning the Corrective Action, and Using Clarifications Instead of Discussions

By: J. Alex Ward and James A. Tucker

Procedurally Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #7)

By: James A. Tucker

Stays of Contract Award and Performance (Post-Award Protest Primer #6)

By: James A. Tucker