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 10, 2021 - Protests & Litigation
November 2021 Bid Protest Roundup
By: Krista A. Nunez
This month’s Law360 Bid Protest Roundup focuses on two recent decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and one decision from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC). These decisions involve (1) the consequences of key personnel unavailability that occurs during corrective action
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December 08, 2021 - Labor & Employment, Coronavirus
Georgia Court Issues Nationwide Injunction of Executive Order 14042—How Should Contractors Respond?
By: J. Alex Ward, Andrew R. Turnbull and Krista A. Nunez
On December 7, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ordered a nationwide injunction of Executive Order 14042 (the EO or EO 14042), temporarily suspending the EO’s vaccination, masking, and social distancing requirements and all implementing guidance. Although the Georgia
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December 03, 2021 - Labor & Employment
Ready, Set, Certify: OFCCP Releases Mandatory Annual AAP Certifications
By: Andrew R. Turnbull
On December 2, 2021, OFCCP announced that it was launching its Affirmative Action Program Verification Initiative (the AAP VI), requiring all federal supply and service contractors and subcontractors to certify annually whether they have developed and maintained an affirmative action program (AAP) for each
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December 01, 2021 - Protests & Litigation
GAO Finds CIO-SP4 Solicitation Is Unduly Restrictive of Competition
By: Damien C. Specht and James A. Tucker
The Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) procurement of the National Institutes of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) has garnered a great deal of attention. With confusion over evaluation criteria, a string of last-minute solicitation amendments and reversals, short extensions of
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November 23, 2021 - Protests & Litigation
Subcontractor Data Rights Challenges: A Need For Clarity
By: W. Jay DeVecchio and Locke Bell
MoFo’s Jay DeVecchio and Locke Bell recently published an article in Thomson Reuters’ The Government Contractor. The article, titled, “Subcontractor Data Rights Challenges: A Need For Clarity,” offers practical advice about how subcontractors should handle a DoD technical data validation challenge in light of
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November 12, 2021 - Coronavirus
Untangling the Vaccine Mandate – Updates and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
By: J. Alex Ward, Andrew R. Turnbull, James A. Tucker and Krista A. Nunez
Since our October 14, 2021 webinar, much has developed in the rapidly evolving compliance world of Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (“EO” or “EO 14042”). In case you missed it, we issued two prior alerts on some of these
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November 10, 2021 - Protests & Litigation
OCTOBER 2021 BID PROTEST ROUNDUP
By: Lyle F. Hedgecock
This month’s Law360 Bid Protest Roundup features three cases from the Court of Federal Claims (COFC). The court’s decisions provide important insights into bid protest standing, challenges to Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) decisions under bid protest jurisdiction, and the significance of timely filing
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November 08, 2021 - Protests & Litigation, Coronavirus
Federal Court Temporarily Halts OSHA ETS—EO 14042’s New January 4, 2022 Vaccine Deadline Remains
By: Andrew R. Turnbull, Monica A. Rodriguez, Jinny S. Hwang and Krista A. Nunez
Less than three days after the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) released its November 4, 2021, emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 vaccines and testing (the “ETS”), on November 6, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily stayed the ETS, citing the
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November 03, 2021 - Labor & Employment, Coronavirus
New Task Force Guidance Signals Some Flexibility for Contractors
By: Andrew R. Turnbull, J. Alex Ward and Krista A. Nunez
On November 1, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (the “Task Force”) added new FAQs to its guidance on Executive Order 14042 (“EO 14042”), signaling that contractors have some flexibility to go beyond the rapidly-approaching December 8, 2021 deadline for covered employees to
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October 14, 2021 - Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
DOJ Cyber-Fraud Initiative Highlights Potential Civil Liability for Failing to Meet Federal Cybersecurity Requirements
By: Tina D. Reynolds
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has created a new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative to use the power of the False Claims Act (FCA) to initiate suits against federal contractors and grant recipients that fall short of their regulatory and contractual cybersecurity obligations. This initiative, announced
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