Government Contracts MonitorGAO Reaffirms: There’s No Prevailing without PrejudiceSeptember 17, 2013 In the final round of a protest that took three separate cycles to complete, GAO recently made clear that even where the record establishes the agency was irrational in how it scored proposals, unless the error was prejudicial to the protester, the protest will be denied. edCount, LLC, B-407556.3; B-407556.4; B-407556.5; B-407556.6 (Comp. Gen. Aug. 15, 2013). In edCount, the Department of… Warning: Solicitations Cancelled for Budgetary Reasons Are Likely Not ProtestableSeptember 17, 2013 As the Federal Government continues to navigate the fiscal constraints of sequestration, we are likely to see more cancelled solicitations and decisions to move programs in-house in order to cut spending. While contractors can protest these actions, a recent GAO decision in Vinculum Solutions, Inc., B-408337 (Comp. Gen. Aug. 5, 2013), demonstrates that winning such a protest will be an uphill… When Your Government Contract Is Based On Fraud, Don’t Bother Trying To Submit A ClaimSeptember 16, 2013 Every once in a while you come across a case so absurd, that you just have to ask “what were they thinking?” Appeal of Dongbuk R&U Engineering Co., Ltd., ASBCA No. 58300 (Aug. 13, 2013) is one of those cases. One who fraudulently induces the government to enter into a contract should have no expectation of receiving payment on that contract. The U.S. Army Contracting Command Korea… Get What You Need: Final FAR Rule Makes Past Performance More Important Than EverSeptember 10, 2013 Last month, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was amended to change the government’s procedures for recording contractor past performance. Specifically, the changes provide factors for government-wide standardization of past performance evaluations and make reporting more consistent and accurate. The final rule requires contracting officials to enter past performance information… Wide-Ranging Army National Guard Recruiting Scheme Continues in TexasSeptember 9, 2013 In an indictment recently unsealed in the Southern District of Texas, four individuals were charged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to fraudulently obtain recruiting bonuses in connection with the Army National Guard Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP). So far, 25 defendants have been charged in San Antonio and Houston areas of Texas, and 11 have pleaded guilty, including an Army… FAR Interim Rule Eliminates Size Caps on WOSB Contract Set-AsidesSeptember 6, 2013 As discussed previously here, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued an Interim Final Rule, effective May 7, 2013, implementing Section 1697(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (“NDAA”), and eliminating the former statutory caps on the value of contracts that can be set-aside for competition among Women-Owned Small Businesses… SBA Announces FY12 Small Business Goal Shortfalls; Information You Can Use in Marketing, Whether You Are Small or LargeSeptember 4, 2013 The U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently announced its Fiscal Year 2012 (“FY12”) small business goaling results. To no one’s great surprise, the federal government again fell short, for the seventh straight year, of its goal to award 23% of eligible contracts to small businesses. Much of the commentary on this shortfall has focused on either bemoaning the fact that… Wrong FAR Clause In Utilities Contract Is Just Water Under The BridgeSeptember 4, 2013 A recent Court of Federal Claims case reminds us that the clauses included in your contract might not actually be the terms governing your arrangement with the Government. And as the Government learned the hard way in Bay County, FL v. United States, No. 11-157C (Fed. Cl. Aug. 14, 2013), this is may even be true when the Government is the party that chose the contract clauses. Bay County,… Northwestern University Settles False Claims Act Case for Nearly $3 MillionSeptember 4, 2013 Northwestern University (“Northwestern”) recently settled a federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) case brought by one of its former employees for nearly $3 million. See United States ex rel. Melissa Theis v. Northwestern Univ., et al., No. 09-C-1943 (N.D.Ill. July 30, 2013). Northwestern receives significant grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) for research conducted by… Furloughs Over but Procurement Woes RemainAugust 26, 2013 Congress’s $85 billion in budget cuts are certainly affecting government contractors. Not surprisingly, many of the contractors feeling the greatest impact are those associated with military spending. The Department of Defense (DOD) was specifically targeted to absorb approximately half of the cuts from the sequester that began March 1, 2013. Contractors are trying to diversify and… Federal Circuit Does Not Agree With Contractor’s Contention That “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire”August 26, 2013 The Federal Circuit recently set a high bar to hurdle for any company wishing to file bid protests in these times of sequestration and partially cancelled solicitations. Croman Corp. v. United States, No. 2012-5138 (Fed. Cir. July 31, 2013) involved a 2011 Solicitation by the Forest Service for heavy and medium helicopters to use for firefighting support missions from selected operations… Short TakesAugust 26, 2013 We previously reported here on the GAO’s June 6, 2013 decision in IBM-U.S. Federal, B-407073.3, in which the GAO sustained two protest grounds raised by IBM challenging the CIA’s $600M commercial cloud services procurement award to Amazon Web Services, Inc. As we noted, the GAO recommended that the CIA reopen the competition and amend the RFP as necessary to ensure that proposals are prepared and… |
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