Jim Nagle and Doug Oles Present to AGC California Group

Oles Morrison partners James Nagle and Douglas Oles recently addressed members of the Associated General Contractors of America’s (AGC) San Francisco Bay Area District Construction Leadership Council.

The event took place on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at the Waste Management Office in Oakland. Statewide, the AGC represents more than 1,000 construction companies and construction-related firms and is considered the voice of the industry.

Nagle provided a thorough review of the latest developments in federal contracting, referring to the calm before the storm as the construction industry awaits the fallout from sequestration, terminations for convenience and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) requirements.

He also touched on the ramifications of Women-Owned Small Business regulations, pre-bid imperatives and a precedent-setting False Claims Act case involving the false certification of wages. Nagle also discussed transparency provisions that require some prime and subcontractors to divulge the compensation of their five most highly compensated executives.

Oles’ presentation, entitled “Written Claim Notice and the Focus on Technical Defenses,” cited the common rules of contract interpretation and detailed the value of claim notice provisions and basic notice requirements. Among the Federal defenses he discussed were having some form of written notice actually given, and determining if a contracting officer has actual or imputed knowledge of such notices.

Other popular technical defenses include performing extra work without written direction or lack of authority, “pay if paid” provisions, “no damage for delay” clauses, failure to pursue administrative remedies and statutes of limitation and repose.

Nagle heads the firm’s Federal Practice Group and writes and speaks extensively on government contracts. He is a co-author of one of the most definitive guides to the government contracts process, Nash, Cibinic and Nagle, Administration of Government Contracts, 4th Edition, 2006.

Oles has concentrated his practice on helping clients to avoid and resolve disputes on complex contracts relating to construction, supply, real estate development and intellectual property licensing. He has prepared, negotiated and litigated claims resulting in recoveries in excess of $100 million on major projects performed for government agencies and private owners.