Government Contracts

Identifying “good” references on past government work is key to getting future work. Especially critical is the almost impossible job of confirming with those references that they actually will give the government that good reference. A recent GAO decision highlights the importance of confirming that a past performance reference will…

The federal government failed to pass a spending bill Friday night, resulting in a government shutdown. Here, we summarize five things contractors should consider when faced with a government shutdown. Contractors Must Continue Work until Directed to Stop. Implementation of the government shutdown is decentralized and not every agency, activity,…

There has been much talk in recent years about a supposed increase in “frivolous” bid protests. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Congress instructed the Department of Defense to conduct an independent study of the bid protest process in DoD procurements. The RAND Corporation recently published…

A recent GAO decision highlights the fundamental procurement principle that agencies must evaluate proposals consistent with the terms of the solicitation. In AdvanceMed Corporation, the protestor argued that the awardee, Safeguard Services, LLC, was ineligible for award of a task order because its parent company had an organizational conflict of…

Even though the options of long-term IDIQ contracts help a small business to grow, and perhaps even outgrow, their small business size, a competitor’s right to challenge the size status of a no-longer-small-business at the SBA is very limited. A recent decision of the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals…

As 2017 winds down, we revisit some of the most significant developments in government contracting this year. Among the highlights are an increased focus on cybersecurity and privacy protections, the NDAA for FY18, and the repeal of the controversial Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule. December 31, 2017 Deadline for…

Earlier this month, GAO issued its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017. The Annual Report provides data on the protests filed with the GAO, including a summary of the most common grounds for sustaining protests. GAO received 2,596 cases in FY2017, as compared to 2,789 the…

A recent U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision highlights an important factor for contract awardees to consider when deciding whether or not to intervene in a bid protest – the possibility of losing the opportunity to challenge an award to another offeror after the agency takes corrective action. In Sonoran…

Once a vendor submits an offer to the Government, generally, the ball is in the Government’s court: it can make an award on the basis of those offers without discussions, ask for discussions, or ask for clarifications. However, as a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision shows, the “ball” can…