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Government Contracts
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May 28, 2024
White House Looks To Boost Carbon Credit Market Integrity
The Biden administration on Tuesday released new guidelines for voluntary carbon markets, touting the measures as a foundation for "ambitious and credible climate action" that also attempts to address questions about the integrity of credits that companies use to show a greener footprint.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Lessons From This Year's Landmark Green Energy IP Clash
In this year's Siemens v. General Electric wind turbine patent dispute, a Massachusetts federal court offers a cautionary tale against willful infringement, and highlights the balance between innovation, law and ethics, as legal battles like this become more frequent in the renewable energy sector, say John Powell and Andrew Siuta at Sunstein.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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Inside DOD's Final Commercial Products And Services Rule
The recently released final amendment of a Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement provision will help streamline negotiations over subcontracts that provide commercial products and services, but its failure to address certain key questions means government contractors must still await further guidance, say Alex Sarria and Connor Farrell at Miller & Chevalier.
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Series
Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Bias, Unequal Discussions, Timeliness
In this month's bid protest roundup, James Tucker at MoFo offers takeaways from three bid protests in the U.S. Government Accountability Office relating to the high standard for protests that allege agency bias, seeking revised proposals from just one offeror, and untimely objections to solicitation terms.
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Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct
The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.
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A Gov't Contractor's Guide To Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wages
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
In light of shifting federal infrastructure priorities and recent updates to U.S. Department of Labor regulations, employers should take the time to revisit the basics of prevailing wage requirements for federal contractors under the Davis-Bacon Act and similar laws, says Timothy Taylor at Holland & Knight.
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What New DHS Cybersecurity Policy Means For Bid Protests
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's recently unveiled policy of factoring cybersecurity self-assessments into its overall evaluation of contractors could raise novel bid protest considerations for offerors in both the pre-award and post-award contexts, say Amy Hoang at Seyfarth and Sandeep Kathuria at L3Harris Technologies.
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Opinion
Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave
To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.
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Series
Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.
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What Lawyers Must Know About Calif. State Bar's AI Guidance
Initial recommendations from the State Bar of California regarding use of generative artificial intelligence by lawyers have the potential to become a useful set of guidelines in the industry, covering confidentiality, supervision and training, communications, discrimination and more, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories
The American Bar Association's recent research study into Native American women attorneys' experiences in the legal industry reveals the glacial pace of progress, and should inform efforts to amplify Native voices in the field, says Mary Smith, president of the ABA.
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Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms
In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.
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Contracts Disputes Recap: Be Mindful Of Termination Clauses
Edward Arnold and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine three recent rulings — one from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and two from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals — that highlight the termination clause as one of the most potent remedy-granting contract clauses.