This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight considers: (1) a company’s successful challenge to an agency’s decision to take corrective action and reopen a competition the company had already won; (2) a Federal Circuit decision clarifying the protest timelines applicable for triggering a stay of contract performance; and (3) a decision reaffirming the ...›
The Federal Circuit handed a substantial victory to Bitmanagement Software GMBH last week, finding the U.S. Navy had infringed the company’s copyright by installing its three-dimensional visualization software on hundreds of thousands of government computers without using license-tracking software to monitor and limit the number of simultaneous users. The court’s decision is significant, not only ...›
This month’s Law360 bid protest spotlight examines three recent protest decisions, each offering a cautionary tale to offerors in the stages prior to contract award. The first, HWI Gear[i], emphasizes the requirement for small businesses undergoing an acquisition to recertify their size status on their pending proposals. In the next, Perspecta[ii], the Court of Federal ...›
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a precedential decision in NIKA Technologies, Inc. v. United States, reversing a decision by the Court of Federal Claims on the timelines for securing a stay of contract performance in post-award protests to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Last year, we briefly discussed an unusual ...›
Many government programs exist to help small businesses—especially minority-owned small businesses—secure a foothold in government contracting. Read on to learn more about some common programs, the basic eligibility requirements, and how to register for them. These programs are quite complicated and you should consult counsel if you have questions regarding whether you qualify. Note: misunderstandings ...›
On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, the Department of Justice announced charges against two providers of foreign language services for conspiracy to defraud the government on a multimillion dollar contract by impeding, impairing, obstructing, and defeating competitive bidding. The two companies, Comprehensive Language Center Inc. (CLCI) and Berlitz Languages Inc. (Berlitz), have admitted to the charges. ...›
This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight examines four recent protest decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), discusses a few key takeaways from the GAO’s annual report, and provides a year-end review of key bid protest decisions from 2020. This year’s GAO report is particularly interesting because the “effectiveness rate,” which ...›
This installment of our monthly Law360 bid protest spotlight examines three protest decisions from three different forums: one from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), one from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and one from U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC). In Mayatech Corp., the GAO addressed its jurisdiction to hear bid ...›
We have previously addressed the challenges and legal risks of an offeror being the subject of a major transaction while it has a proposal pending for a Federal procurement. In numerous bid protest decisions, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has sketched the outlines of when a transaction does, and when it does not, call ...›
In the latest installment of our bid protest spotlight (featured on Law360), we analyze three Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions that provide important reminders for companies considering whether to protest a contract award. In Chronos Solutions, LLC, the GAO held it was unreasonable for an agency to construct its procurement without regard for the changed ...›