Guest blogger Jack Horan, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP Many factors go into a decision of whether to protest after a contractor finds out it was not successful in winning an order or contract: Did the agency make a mistake? How strong is my evidence? Did the mistake affect the award decision? How much [...]

By Phil Seckman, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Sharp Electronics Corporation addresses a quandary familiar to federal supply schedule contractors regarding the proper contracting officer (CO) to whom the contractor must direct its contract claims to ensure jurisdiction.  Sharp Corporation v. McHugh, 2013 WL 646330 (Fed. Cir. 2013).  The Federal Circuit’s [...]

Guest Bloggers: Louis Victorino, Partner, Sheppard Mullin and Jonathan Aronie, Partner, Sheppard Mullin (originally published in the San Diego Business Journal) It has been noted, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  In the world of Government Contracts Law, however, the more things change, the more the phone rings.  And while we’re only [...]

Guest Blogger: Jim Schweiter, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP Last August, Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (Pub. L. 112-25). This law authorized raising the debt ceiling, established caps on discretionary spending, and put in place a process known as sequestration to implement a total of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts [...]

  Guest Bloggers: Richard Oliver and Agustin Orozco McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently issued a proposed rule which, for the first time, would allow venture capital operating companies, hedge funds and private equity firms (“investment companies”) to meaningfully participate in the Small Business Innovation Research (“SBIR”) and Small Business [...]

Guest Bloggers:  Christopher Loveland and Jonathan Aronie, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP Since 2005, anyone with even a passing familiarity with GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules Program knows that compliance with the Trade Agreements Act is a key enforcement area of the Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice, and whistleblowers.  It was in [...]

Guest Blogger:  Phil Seckman, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP A March 2, 2012, final rule requiring competition for certain orders placed under Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”) contracts increases the burdens on agencies before schedule orders can be placed.  The trend toward increased complexity is eroding GSA’s ability to legitimately tout the MAS program as [...]

Guest Blogger: Jason Workmaster, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP In a long-running civil False Claims Act (“FCA”) case, United States ex rel. Rille v. Sun Microsystems, Inc., No. 4:04-C-V00986-BRW, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas recently denied a Government motion to dismiss, on public disclosure grounds, the relators’ claim that [...]