The Procurement Playbook

On June 27, 2018, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) held for the first time that the government, much as with commercial customers, does not affirmatively need to agree to or even be aware of a commercial computer software license to be bound by the terms of the […]

To help you navigate the rough seas of doing business with the federal government in the Trump administration, Washington PTAC, Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition, AGC of Washington, and the Government Contracts team at Oles Morrison have assembled a group of nationally recognized government contracts professionals for a seminar covering topics relevant to government […]

Many politically charged issues are likely to steal the headlines during the confirmation hearings for President Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  However, one issue unlikely to make headlines is the impact that Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation may have on the doctrine […]

The federal regulations and procurement framework for design-build project delivery concerning direct government procurements, and indirect federal projects where the government provides funding but does not procure the construction, has been in place for the past twenty-two years (The Clinger-Cohen Act passed in 1996, part of Federal Acquisition Regulation at […]

Contractors frequently claim that owners have breached the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, largely as an alternative to more specific claims for constructive change or breach. These good faith and fair dealing claims are difficult to recover on, largely because courts and the boards have required a […]

Six months into Trump’s presidency, we wrote about how Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan was likely to include more federal deregulation, including possible repeal or suspension of the Davis Bacon Act (DBA).  Two months after that article, comments from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee suggested Trump had changed his […]

With every new administration, there is both great uncertainty and opportunity in federal government contracting. To help you navigate the rough seas of doing business with the federal government in the Trump administration, Oles Morrison is partnering with the AGC of Alaska and Alaska PTAC to host a half-day seminar/webinar […]

It is no secret that the False Claims Act (“FCA”) is the government’s primary anti-fraud tool and that recoveries under the statute have hit record highs in recent years.  For example, since 1987, FCA recoveries have totaled $56 billion with no single year since 2010 falling below $3 billion.  Moreover, most of […]

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 amended the Truth in Negotiations Act’s cost or pricing data report threshold, effective July 1, 2018, for all Department of Defense (DoD) procurement contracts, if no exceptions apply.  The TINA amendment raises the threshold for submitting certified cost or pricing data […]

Liquidated damages are useful tools for parties to allocate risk at the beginning of a contract.  A liquidated damages clause allocates the risk of a contract being completed late.  For a liquidated damages clause to apply, the damages must be approximately the damages likely to be incurred by the assessing […]

While FAR 52.242-14 (the “Suspension of Work Clause”) and FAR 52.242-15 (the “Stop-Work Order Clause”) both allow a contracting officer to require a contractor to stop all, or any part, of the work at the Government’s convenience, they contain some key differences that prudent contractors should know to protect their […]

Despite recent political shifts away from globalization, international trade – particularly U.S. exports – will remain a substantial component of the U.S. economy. Companies doing business in the U.S. and overseas must be up to date on U.S. export control regulations. An important component of these regulations are the Export […]

It seems like a yearly ritual.  The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (“SASC”) drafts and passes a version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) that includes reforms aimed at curtailing bid protests, while the House Armed Services Committee (“HASC”) drafts and passes a version of the NDAA that […]

In its annual report to Congress, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”) released impressive metrics about its progress during the 2017 fiscal year. For many years, DCAA has struggled to manage a substantial number of backlogged incurred cost audits—most of which extended back several years, including some which extended back […]

Back when Congress passed the FY2017 NDAA, they included a provision (Section 1822) requiring SBA to create a pilot program to provide opportunities for qualified subcontractors to obtain past performance ratings. Specifically, Congress mandated that SBA create a 3-year pilot program whereby small business concerns without a past performance rating […]