Government Contracts

  • May 28, 2024

    States, Greens Want Judgment Over USPS' New Vehicle Plan

    Environmentalists and a coalition of 17 states called on a California federal judge to grant them judgment in litigation alleging the U.S. Postal Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it decided to replace its aging delivery fleet with "gas-guzzling vehicles."

  • May 28, 2024

    GSA Audit Authority Ruling Bars Crowley Suit Over DOD Deal

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has rejected Crowley Government Services Inc.'s protest over the terms of a U.S. Transportation Command solicitation for freight services, saying the company effectively attempted to relitigate an already decided dispute over the General Services Administration's audit authority.

  • May 28, 2024

    Conn. Judge Asks If 'Sham' Exception Saves Stadium Fight

    A Connecticut appellate judge asked Tuesday if a "sham" exception to limits on government contracting lawsuits can restore claims that the city of Hartford ran a fake bidding process for the redevelopment of Dillon Stadium, but counsel for several defendants pushed back and said it would not apply to the facts of the case.

  • May 28, 2024

    $3.1B Satellite Deal Needs Justices' Review, Co. Says

    A broker accusing Lockheed Martin and Airbus of cutting it from a $3.1 billion military satellite deal opposed the Biden administration's contention that a U.S. Supreme Court review isn't needed, saying the administration incorrectly focused on an underlying F-35 deal.

  • May 28, 2024

    Mich. Atty Can't Have Dominion Info, Pa. Court Told

    Dominion Voting Systems told a Pennsylvania state court Tuesday that information copied from election machines as part of a county's fraud probe was "fruit of the poisonous tree" and can't be shared with a Michigan attorney who has been in hot water for allegedly accessing other states' machine data and releasing the privileged information.

  • May 24, 2024

    SEC Hits Back At SolarWinds' 'Distortion' Allegations

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to a New York federal judge Friday pushing back on SolarWinds Corp.'s accusations that it was overstating and distorting its case against the government contractor over a data hack, saying its complaint is "well-grounded in facts" uncovered during its investigation.

  • May 24, 2024

    Claims Court Won't Toss $1.1M Breach Suit Against Navy

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims won't free the U.S. Navy from a $1.1 million breach-of-contract case from an engineering contractor, saying its handling of indirect and billing rates potentially amounted to a breach.

  • May 24, 2024

    Contractor Entitled To Share In Navy Savings, Board Rules

    The U.S. Navy must share with a construction contractor savings resulting from the contractor's changes to a design-build task order, after the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ruled the Navy constructively accepted the contractor's proposal for the money-saving changes.

  • May 24, 2024

    HNTB's Liability Capped In Seattle Tunnel Delay Claim

    A contract clause caps engineering firm HNTB Corp.'s potential liability over a long-delayed Seattle highway tunnel project, a Washington state court judge ruled Friday, likely dashing a joint venture's bid to recover more than $700 million.

  • May 24, 2024

    Staff Squeeze May Be Limiting Small Biz Roles In Procurement

    The federal government has introduced several strategies over the last decade to help small businesses vie for procurement contracts, but overstretched acquisition staff may have limited capacity to deploy these strategies and reverse a downward trend in small business participation.

  • May 24, 2024

    Green Groups Lose In California Fish Protection Lawsuit

    The federal government properly considered the needs of fish protected under the Endangered Species Act when it approved water supply contracts for California's Central Valley Project, the Ninth Circuit said in a ruling rejecting environmental groups' claims to the contrary.

  • May 24, 2024

    Navy Owes Crane Contractor $5M After Refusing Proposed Fix

    The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ruled that the U.S. Navy must pay a Konecranes ABP unit roughly $4.9 million after the Navy wrongly refused to accept a proposed fix for problems discovered before delivery of a crane.

  • May 24, 2024

    Biden's Judicial Impact And What's Left On The Wish List

    President Joe Biden secured confirmation of his 200th federal judge Wednesday and has transformed the judiciary by picking more women and people of color than any other president. But the upcoming election season could derail his hopes of confirming many more judges.

  • May 24, 2024

    Union Carbide To Pay EPA $600K For Colo. Superfund Site

    Union Carbide Corp. and the federal government filed a $600,000 proposed settlement in Colorado federal court, resolving claims the company and its subsidiary owed more than $1.2 million in reimbursement costs connected to the cleanup of hazardous chemicals at a former uranium and vanadium processing facility.

  • May 24, 2024

    Biden Urges 1st Circ. To Find Debt Cap Challenge Moot

    The Biden administration asked the First Circuit to affirm a finding that a government workers' union lacks standing to challenge the debt ceiling's constitutionality and that its case was further rendered moot by passage of a deal to suspend the spending limit until January.

  • May 24, 2024

    CFPB Seeks $20M Penalty For Inaccurate Loan Data

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged a Florida federal court to hit Freedom Mortgage with a $20 million civil penalty for allegedly submitting error-filled government mortgage loan data.

  • May 24, 2024

    Insurer Owes Coverage For School Defect Claim, Builder Says

    A general contractor told a Washington federal court it is entitled to coverage under a subcontractor's commercial general liability policy with a Liberty Mutual unit for defects and damage that a school district alleges was caused by the subcontractor while working on a school expansion project.

  • May 23, 2024

    Feds Ask 5th Circ. To Weigh Highway GHG Rule Vacatur

    The Biden administration has asked the Fifth Circuit to review a Texas district court's recent decision vacating a Federal Highway Administration rule that would've required states to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from federally funded highway projects.

  • May 23, 2024

    Joint Venture Says Defense Agency Errors Thwarted Contract

    An Alabama joint venture hauled the U.S. government into the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging it was shut out of a Missile Defense Agency deal due to multiple errors the agency made when assessing the joint venture.

  • May 23, 2024

    NJ Justices Toss Direct Appeals Over Hospital Contract Bid

    The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an independent state-owned teaching hospital's conduct cannot be challenged directly in the state's intermediate appellate court because it isn't considered an administrative agency, affirming the dismissal of two protests over the hospital's selection of a pharmacy vendor.

  • May 23, 2024

    Bell, Boeing Face Suit Over Marines Killed In Osprey Crash

    The families of four of the five marines killed in the June 2022 crash of an Osprey V-22 aircraft sued Bell Textron Inc., The Boeing Co. and Rolls-Royce Corp. Thursday in California federal court, alleging defects in the aircraft led to the fatal crash.

  • May 23, 2024

    Lockheed Urges 11th Circ. To Affirm Win In Solvent Suit

    Lockheed Martin Corp. asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to uphold a Florida district court's rejection of a proposed expert's testimony purporting to link a now-deceased former employee's multiple sclerosis to her work-related exposure to industrial solvents.

  • May 23, 2024

    Army Corps Ordered To Award $5M Deal To Co. It Flipped On

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a $5 million diving services deal to a company whose bid it irrationally rejected as unacceptable, despite initially finding the proposal acceptable.

  • May 23, 2024

    US Drops Appeal Of Citigroup's $183M Tax Award At Fed. Circ.

    The federal government agreed to stop fighting a ruling that awarded Citigroup $183 million in tax deductions for liabilities belonging to a failing bank it had acquired during the 1980s savings and loan crisis, according to an order Thursday by the Federal Circuit dismissing the appeal.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ambulance Co. Owner Accused Of $1M Pandemic Loan Fraud

    The owner of a California ambulance company who was charged last year with tax evasion and filing false returns has been further accused of fraudulently securing $1 million from federal pandemic relief loan programs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Expert Analysis

  • Draft Pay Equity Rule May Pose Contractor Compliance Snags

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recently proposed rule that would prohibit government contractors from requesting certain job applicants' salary history seems simple on the surface, but achieving compliance will be a nuanced affair for many contractors who must also adhere to state and local pay transparency laws, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • 10 Areas To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting Law

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    The near future holds a number of key areas to watch in aerospace and defense contracting law, ranging from dramatic developments in the space industry to recent National Defense Authorization Act updates, which are focused on U.S. leadership in emerging technologies, say Joseph Berger and Chip Purcell at Thompson Hine.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • Opinion

    NIST March-In Framework Is As Problematic As 2021 Proposal

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    While the National Institute of Standards and Technology's proposed march-in framework on when the government can seize patents has been regarded as a radical departure that will support lowering prescription drug costs, the language at the heart of it is identical to a failed 2021 notice of proposed rulemaking, says attorney Kelly Morron.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference

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    Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • Understanding Fixed-Price Gov't Contracts And Inflation Relief

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Contractors party to fixed-price contracts should note the recent shift in the government’s approach to cost adjustments in light of inflation, and familiarize themselves with certain steps that could help mitigate economic losses arising from increased performance and delivery costs, says Craig Stetson at Capital Edge Consulting.

  • BIPA's Statutory Exemptions Post-Healthcare Ruling

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    The Illinois Supreme Court's November opinion in Mosby v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which held that the Biometric Information Privacy Act's healthcare exemption also applies when information is collected from healthcare workers, is a major win for healthcare defendants that resolves an important question of statutory interpretation, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Practical Steps For Navigating New Sanctions On Russia

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    After the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia – the largest to date since the Ukraine war began – companies will need to continue to strengthen due diligence and compliance measures to navigate the related complexities, say James Min and Chelsea Ellis at Rimon.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

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