Procurement Playbook

*This article was previously published in the spring 2024 issue of AGC Alaska’s The Alaska Contractor.
Government sluggishness in evaluating proposals, processing change orders, and responding to requests for information is not new. But contractors’ struggles to accurately price bids and hold those prices while waiting for the government to act has taken on new urgency in the face of the economic volatility of the past few years. Read More…

The United States faces increasingly sophisticated cyber campaigns that threaten the public and private sectors’ security and privacy. The public and private sectors have been rocked by vulnerabilities. Such examples include the December 2020 ransomware attack on SolarWinds that paralyzed multinational companies and permanently locked people around the world out of tens of thousands of computers, Read More…

As Government contractors know, under each of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Changes clauses, e.g., FAR 52.243-1 – FAR 52.243-4, the Government can unilaterally change the terms of the contract. Such a constructive change under these Changes clauses is subject to a Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA) or Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claim, Read More…

The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (“ASBCA”) recently swatted down an attempt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) to use the sovereign acts doctrine to dodge liability for extra costs incurred during a COVID-19 shutdown. In StructSure Projects, Inc., ASBCA No. 62927 (Aug. Read More…

The Court of Appeals breathes new life into the Spearin doctrine, but contractors beware, as future owners may seek to shift design risks to unsuspecting contractors in their construction agreements.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of offering expert opinions in your bid protest? In order to win your bid protest, this article explores the rules behind expert opinions on complex or technical subjects in bid protests before either the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) or the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Read More…

On November 15, 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration enacted the Build America, Buy America Act (“BABA”), which represents the latest and most expansive statue implementing what is commonly referred to as “Buy America,” a phrase used to describe the growing number of statutes obligating certain Federal agencies to require goods, Read More…

In federal procurement, bidders or offerors who are not awarded a contract have the right to protest contract award with the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), Court of Federal Claims (”COFC”), or procuring agency itself. In specific circumstances, bidders or offerors may also file a protest prior to award.   

GAO Reaffirms the Stringent Standards of Challenging an Agency’s Technical Evaluation and Best-Value Tradeoff in the Design-Build Construction of Coast Guard Homeport in Oregon
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), decision https://www.gao.gov/assets/730/723577.pdf, on Caddell-Nova, A Joint Venture’s (“Caddell”), protest of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Read More…

When a small business concern is competing for a government contract that is set aside for small businesses, the SBA determines a company’s size status on the date of self-certification in its proposal. However, long before this certification, companies need to take a close look at their family relationships in order to ensure that they will not be considered affiliated with companies owned by their spouse, parents, children or siblings, consequently risking their status as “small” for the purposes of the solicitation. The SBA rules on affiliation among spouses and close family members are quite specific and require good up-front planning of even the smallest items.