Government Contracts

If the government benefits from something a contractor provides without contracting officer approval, there are only a few ways a contractor can force the government to pay. In a recent decision of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA), the Board used one of those ways and made sure the…

On April 27, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order raising the minimum wage from $10.95 to $15.00 per hour for certain federal contractors, starting January 30, 2022. The Executive Order will apply to any new contract; new contract-like instrument; new solicitation; extension or renewal of an existing contract or…

Under GAO’s bid protest regulations, a post-award protest must be filed within ten days from the time the protester knew or should have known the basis of the protest. However, if a protestor receives a “required debriefing,” then a protest must be filed within ten days after the date of…

GAO’s recent decision in Barbaricum, LLC, B-418427.7 (Dec. 11, 2020) highlights the importance of carefully reviewing all Q&As issued as part of a solicitation. The Army Material Command (AMC) issued a solicitation for training support services to provide “special operations forces (SOF) training for counter terrorism, counter narco-terrorism, counter…

One golden rule for contractors trying to win a government contract is “Carefully read the solicitation’s fine print.” This is especially true for an offeror trying to win contracts other than firm-fixed-price contracts. To win cost-reimbursement contracts and task orders, an offeror generally must provide the agency with “verification” that…

There are situations in which a government contractor might want access to documents held by the government. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides a means to acquire such documents. FOIA requires federal agencies to make records available to the public upon request unless those records fall within one of…

In this article, we describe the general rules that a government contractor must follow to get an effective “required debriefing.” It is based on our years of government contract experience working with clients who want to get as much information as possible from the government on why they lost a…

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill to facilitate the recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act extended Section 3610 of the CARES Act through September 30, 2021. Section 3610 of the…

Earlier this year the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) Council issued a final rule, which took effect February 16, 2021, amending the FAR to limit the use of Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (“LPTA”) source selection procedures. Similar to the final rule issued by the Department of Defense (“DoD”) restricting the use…