Government Contracts

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…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Nika Technologies, Inc. v. United States, reversed a decision by the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) and provided important clarification regarding the timeliness rules for obtaining a stay of contract performance in post-award protests to the Government Accountability…

Out-of-office email responses can make communications easier but they must be updated and kept current. Reliance on an “Away Message” from an offeror’s point of contact (POC) during an on-going solicitation led to the offeror being eliminated from the competition. In the opinion of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the…

On January 13, 2021, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published an interim final rule that implementing provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Appropriations Act), and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA 2021), which authorized certain 8(a) Business Development (BD) program Participants to extend their…

Guest Author: Robert E. Jones, CPA, CPCM, NCMA Fellow, Left Brain Professionals Background Congress approved multiple COVID-19 relief bills in 2020 to aid businesses and employers struggling with the financial impacts continuing into 2021. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) passed in March…

Where does FAR say that a contracting officer must treat contractors in a fair and equitable way? Where does FAR make contractors part of the “Acquisition Team” and encourage contractors to be involved in the acquisition planning process? Where does FAR deal with the applicability – actually, non-applicability – of…

On December 22, 2020, the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the federal government from enforcing portions of Executive Order 13950 (EO 13950), “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.” We previously summarized this Executive Order, which bans federal contractors from…

On December 23, 2020, GAO issued its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2020. 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 2,149 cases in FY2020. This figure is relatively…

With all the time and effort a contractor spends on marketing for new opportunities, it’s a shame when a missed opportunity had been previously announced on beta.SAM.gov – twice. We cannot stress enough how important monitoring beta.SAM.gov is. Several months ago, we reported on a GAO decision that concluded…