Government Contracts & Public Procurement
Overview
BCLP has been involved in Government Contracts practice for decades. We regularly represent many clients in their dealings with governments at all levels, including local, state, federal, and foreign governments. We have experience in handling matters involving DOD, all the military services, and many of the civilian agencies, including NASA, FAA, Interior, DOE, GSA, DOL, Homeland Security, Postal Service, SEC and Transportation.
Members of our Team include experienced trial lawyers (a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers), the former Vice President and Associate General Counsel of McDonnell Douglas/ Boeing, a former general counsel of the National Security Agency, and lawyers with engineering degrees and experience. Our team has had leading roles in some of the most significant disputes and litigation in the government contracting field during the past four decades. Additionally, our lawyers are active in the ABA’s Public Contract Law Section and industry associations, including National Contract Management Association and National Defense Industry Association and frequently have lectured and written on Government contract issues.
A staple of our Government contract practice is the prosecution and defense of alleged breaches of contract, both prime contracts and subcontracts, and claims and requests for equitable adjustment. Our trial lawyers have been through every conceivable issue regarding breaches of contract and claims for equitable adjustment. We have also appeared before state and federal courts, the Boards of Contract Appeals, the Federal Court of Claims, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals, including the Federal Circuit.
We routinely review procurement contracts, teaming agreements, non-disclosure agreements, subcontracts, and provide advice and counseling for a wide variety of Government clients with respect to contract terms.
Our group is involved frequently in compliance counseling, compliance program implementation and evaluation, risk assessment, and internal investigations. Nearly daily, we are advising clients on interpretation or compliance with the FAR’s, DFAR’s, and other regulations and policies and on compliance program best practices.
BCLP attorneys have substantial experience in conducting internal investigations of sensitive government contracts-related matters, including investigations of time and cost charging, quality, product substitution, material requirements planning, improper inspections and sign-offs, and pricing issues, among other issues raised by alleged whistle-blowers, and Anti-Kickback Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act issues. We have defended our clients in private litigation (both qui tam and employment-related) and counseled clients on whether a disclosure of the results of an investigation must or should be made to the government. We also regularly represent clients in responding to government inquiries at both the administrative and prosecutorial level, and in debarment and suspensions proceedings, that might arise out of such investigations.
In addition, we have an extensive practice regarding national security clearances, facility clearances and related issues, particularly advising contractor employees and adjudicating security clearance denials before the Defense Department Office of Hearings and Appeals, as well as issues of foreign ownership, control and influence.
Meet The Team
Related Practice Areas
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White Collar
Experience
- We’ve handled the leading case considering the effect and enforceability of a teaming agreement between major government contractors. We represented a client in the leading case concerning DoD national security requirements in connection with civil trials, and established the precedent that a government contractor who pledges to honour national security requirements may be deemed to have waived its rights to a jury trial in matters involving classified information.
- We have extensive experience in representing clients both bringing and defending breach of contracts claims and requests for equitable adjustments. In a number of subcontract suits, we have been able to obtain injunctions for specific performance requiring the subcontractor to continue to perform during the pendency of the dispute.
- We have frequently worked with company and expert witnesses and examined opposing experts in technical areas. For example, we became familiar with aerodynamics and engine propulsion issues while working with our client’s personnel in the recovery of over $200 million for constructive changes claims on the T-45A program. We also have worked with company and expert accounting witnesses on the often thorny issues of trying to quantify impacts. We have experience in the issues relating to unabsorbed overhead recovery and in quantifying the impact of government delays and disruption, including working with experts in the field of CPM analysis and in computer simulation modeling of delay and disruption where traditional CPM analysis cannot be used.
- We have handled disputes relating to termination of hundreds of subcontracts under the A-12 and Space Station programs and have obtained numerous court orders requiring specific performance by recalcitrant subcontractors on other programs. We also have experience in representing prime contractors when they have found themselves in the uncomfortable position of simultaneously having to defend against a default termination by the government, while defending themselves against a claim by a subcontractor.
- We have represented a number of clients in both pursuing and defending bid protests including issues related to organizational conflict issues, past performance evaluations, misleading/unfair discussions, technical noncompliance, undisclosed evaluation criteria/improper evaluation, refusal to provide company with an RFQ, unequal treatment of offerors, propriety of sole source award, and specifications designed to favor a specific contractor.
- We have also advised and represented clients in connection with rights in data, trade secrets, copyright and patent issues, export control regulations and International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
- In addition, we have represented clients in numerous litigation matters involving constructive changes, superior knowledge, terminations for default, terminations for convenience, government caused delays and description, suspension of work, defective specifications, and directed changes.
- We have frequently represented companies in affirmative and reverse FOIA matters at the agency level, federal district court, and U.S. Courts of Appeal. We represented a company in the leading decision by a Circuit Court of appeals in which the court ordered that the company’s sensitive option pricing information in a government contract not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act to a competitor. We have counseled clients in connection with the Trade Agreements Act, Buy American Act, and the Berry Amendment.
- We have also counseled clients on small and minority-owned business matters, including qualification criteria for small businesses, including disadvantaged, woman-owned or veteran-owned businesses.
- We have assisted a number of clients in the past several years in developing compliance programs and manuals and Code of Ethics specially targeted to proposing for and performing Government contracts.
A list of matters and issues for which our Government Contracts Group has provided advice and representation includes:
- Review of solicitations and contract terms
- Proposal preparation and negotiations
- Small disadvantaged business procurements, set-asides and other preference issues
- Women-owned, minority-owned and veteran-owned enterprises
- Government grants
- Bid protests and mistakes
- Bid rigging allegations
- Internal audits and investigations
- Contract terms and conditions
- GSA Schedule pricing and disclosures
- Adequacy of internal controls
- Cost allowability and allocability
- Accounting and Material Management and Accounting Systems
- Voluntary disclosures
- Contract funding and payments
- Government audits, subpoenas and investigations
- Export control issues
- Foreign military sales
- Licensing, data rights, and patents
- Civil and criminal defective pricing and defective products and false claims allegations
- Preparation and negotiation of construction claims
- Contract changes, directed, implied and cardinal
- Teaming and joint ventures
- Government subcontracts
- Suspension and debarment proceedings
- Congressional investigations and hearings
- Terminations for convenience and default and related wrongful termination actions
- National Security issues
- Arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution processes
- Litigation before the Boards of Contract Appeals and federal and state courts
- Qui tam and whistle-blower claims
- Compliance and ethics in Government contracting
- Corporate compliance program risk assessments, implementation and benchmarking
- Acquisition or divestiture of Government contracting businesses
- Truth-In-Negotiations
- False Claims Act
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- Buy American Act
- Berry Amendment
- Defense Base Act
- Services Contract Act
- Walsh-Healy Act
- Davis-Bacon Act
- Organizational Conflicts of Interest
- Freedom of Information Act
- ITAR
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