Law

The Biden administration will have a lot to contend with when it comes to defense acquisitions, including adversarial investments and cybersecurity weaknesses in the industrial base, predicted Ellen Lord, the department’s appointed head of acquisition in the previous administration. Lord noted that China had announced more than $14 billion in investments, mergers, and acquisitions in […]

The Pentagon recently launched what it calls a “trusted digital marketplace” that officials hope will deter adversarial investment in the defense industrial base, said the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer Jan. 13. More at National Defense Magazine

Lloyd Austin pledged to recuse himself for four years from making decisions that involve his current employer Raytheon Technologies should the Senate confirm him as defense secretary. More at Defense One

The Pentagon eliminated a class deviation that implemented the president’s executive order purging diversity training across federal grants and contracts. More at Federal Computer Week

Protest challenging agency’s decision to not set aside a task order for small businesses is denied. The protester and the SBA contended that the...

Appeal of claim seeking a price adjustment to cover the costs of increase in the minimum wage in Korea is denied. The contractor alleged the government breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing by requiring the contractor to comply with Korean labor laws but not including a price escalation clause to cover the […]

Appeal of an alleged non-monetary claim is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The claim asked the board to determine completion date of the contract. When the only consequence of a claim would be that the plaintiff obtaining monetary damages, then the claim is monetary. Here, the only consequence of the board determining completion […]

Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of cost realism and management approach is denied. GAO found that the cost realism evaluation reasonable. The agency compared offerors’ rates to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and to each other. The agency conducted exchanges with offerors and obtained additional cost information. The protester also alleged that the agency assessed […]

Crowell & Moring – This week’s episode of “Fastest 5 Minutes” covers important developments concerning the nationwide court order enjoining the Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, GAO’s annual report regarding protest filings, extension of the reimbursement period for Section 3610 of the CARES Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal […]

Koprince Law – The DoD, NASA, and GSA have proposed new rules aimed at providing transparency for reverse auctions after GAO reports in 2013 and 2018 signaled the need for guidance on reverse auctions to achieve cost savings and reduce fees. As context, the FAR was amended in 1997 to allow for the use of […]