Government Contracts Insights

February 04, 2020 - Protests & Litigation, Defense, Compliance, Data Rights, Intellectual Property
Court of Federal Claims Marks Its Territory, Confirms CDA Jurisdiction Over Proprietary Legends
By: James A. Tucker and Locke Bell
The Court of Federal Claims recently affirmed its jurisdiction to settle disputes over protective markings in Raytheon Co. v. United States. [i] In that case, Raytheon asked the Court to review a contracting officer’s demand that Raytheon replace its common proprietary, not-subject-to-release-under-FOIA [ii] marking
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September 27, 2019 - Federal Procurement, Protests & Litigation, Defense, Compliance
DOD Promulgates Long-awaited Restrictions on LPTA Procurement
By: James A. Tucker
The Department of Defense (DOD) has promulgated the final rule restricting DOD’s use of Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) acquisition methods. The final rule adopts, without any substantive changes, the proposed rule published last December and implements sections of the National Defense Authorization Acts
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September 06, 2019 - Defense, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Planning Moves Forward
By: Tina D. Reynolds
The Department of Defense (DoD) has taken another step on the path toward full implementation of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) initiative. On September 5, 2019, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition released version 4 of the CMMC and
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July 31, 2019 - Defense, Data Rights, Intellectual Property
DOD’s Other Transactions: Data Rights & Intellectual Property Simplified
By: W. Jay DeVecchio
How To Handle Intellectual Property Rights In OTs: The Department of Defense is actively pursuing “Other Transactions” (OTs) instead of procurement contracts. This allows DOD and its contractors to avoid many of the most burdensome aspects of the procurement regulations. But it also allows
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May 15, 2019 - Defense, False Claims Act, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Federal Court Confirms that Cybersecurity Gaps Can Form the Basis of False Claims Act Violations
By: J. Alex Ward and Tina D. Reynolds
Since the Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies began implementing formal cybersecurity requirements for government contractors within the last few years, one lingering question on the minds of federal contractors and subcontractors has been: “What happens if I do not comply?” Firms,
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April 25, 2019 - Protests & Litigation, Defense
Contracting in the Fog of War (The Government Contractor article)
By: J. Alex Ward and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
Morrison & Foerster Government Contracts co-chair Alex Ward and associate Victoria Dalcourt Angle recently published an article in The Government Contractor, titled “ Contracting in the Fog of War .” An excerpt is provided below: The fog of war has long been known to
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March 07, 2019 - Protests & Litigation, Defense, Artificial Intelligence + Robotics
ABA Federal Procurement Institute — MoFo Attorneys Co-Chair and Moderate Panels
By: Kevin P. Mullen, Damien C. Specht and Sandeep N. Nandivada
During next week’s ABA Federal Procurement Institute , March 13-16, 2019 in Annapolis, MD, three Morrison & Foerster Government Contracts attorneys will be participating. Partner Damien Specht will serve as one of the conference co-chairs. He is also co-chair of the ABA Public Contract
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March 04, 2019 - Acquisition Regulations, Defense
GAO Continues to Expand the Scope of “Prototypes” DoD May Buy Through OTs
By: Locke Bell and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
The most common question we hear from clients about the recent boom in the Department of Defense’s spending on other transactions, or OTs, is a simple one: How can I get in on the action? Understandably, OTs – essentially contracts not subject to procurement
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March 01, 2019 - Federal Procurement, Defense, Compliance
Undefinitized Contract Action Proposed Rule
By: James A. Tucker
In the National Defense Authorization Acts for 2017 and 2018, Congress required the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement certain reforms for issuing and definitizing Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCAs). After a long delay, DOD has issued a proposed rule and requested comments from industry.
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February 15, 2019 - Protests & Litigation, Defense, Compliance
Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Risks of War
By: J. Alex Ward and Victoria Dalcourt Angle
In last month’s post , we considered First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting W.L.L., v. Dep’t of State , CBCA 3506, 2018 WL 6423911 (Dec. 3, 2018), and Appeal of ECC International, LLC , ASBCA 60484, 2018 WL 6251069 (Nov. 16, 2018), to reflect on
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