Government Contracts

  • March 01, 2024

    Ex-Raytheon Worker Asks Full 5th Circ. To Revive Firing Suit

    An ex-Raytheon engineer pressed the full Fifth Circuit to reconsider a panel decision blocking claims that he was fired for reporting concerns with a naval system, saying the panel wrongly expanded a national security court review bar to government contractors.

  • March 01, 2024

    Gov't Wants Spectrum Fraud Case Against Dish Dismissed

    The Justice Department has decided to intervene in a suit accusing Dish Network of using sham companies to buy spectrum from the Federal Communications Commission at a $3.3 billion discount, but not to take over litigation of the matter — it wants to end the whole thing.

  • March 01, 2024

    Ky. Sees $74M Boost For Abandoned Mine Cleanup Work

    The U.S. Department of the Interior said it is awarding Kentucky another $74 million in funding to help the state address dangerous and polluting abandoned mines.

  • March 01, 2024

    Iranian National Faces 20 Years For Defense Hack Scheme

    An Iranian national faces up to 20 years in prison for his alleged role in a yearslong hacking scheme that targeted U.S. companies, including defense contractors, often by using fake female personas on social media, according to a freshly unsealed indictment.

  • March 01, 2024

    Calif. Water Utility Sues Feds Over Havasu Easement Access

    A California public water utility hit the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint accusing the agency of preventing the utility from using an easement to access its supply pipeline located near the Parker Dam on Lake Havasu and distribute water to nearby residents.

  • March 01, 2024

    DC Appeals Court Affirms 2014 Firing Of Administrative Judge

    A Washington, D.C., appeals court upheld the termination of a D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings judge who was fired nearly a decade ago amid scrutiny for a range of ethics violations that included steering a $43,000 city contract to the husband of the agency's general counsel.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pentagon Leak Suspect To Change Plea In Hearing Next Week

    Federal prosecutors indicated Thursday that a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman will change his not guilty plea to charges he posted hundreds of top-secret military intelligence documents online, asking a Massachusetts federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for next week.

  • February 29, 2024

    GSA's Chinese Cameras Better Off In Russia, House Rep. Quips

    Members of the U.S. House of Representatives criticized the federal government's 2022 purchase of 150 Chinese cameras over national security concerns during a Thursday hearing, with one lawmaker calling to get rid of them and send them to Russia instead.

  • February 29, 2024

    Worley Pays Ecuador $6M To Resolve Oil Refinery Dispute

    The Ecuador attorney general's office has reported that Worley International Services Inc. fully paid a $6 million award to reimburse the country for fees and costs it incurred in an international arbitration over bribes the engineering firm made to secure oil refinery contracts.

  • February 29, 2024

    DOJ Says Court Rehab Means Ga. Bid Rig Case Must Move

    Construction at Savannah, Georgia's federal courthouse means three men accused of conspiring to rig bids for millions of dollars' worth of ready-mix concrete contracts will have to be tried in a college town a couple of counties over, according to the DOJ.

  • February 29, 2024

    Lima Denies Contractor's Call For Sanctions In $140M Row

    Lima has asked a D.C. federal judge to deny a highway contractor's bid for attorney fees as it looks to enforce nearly $140 million in arbitral awards against the Peruvian city, saying the contractor wrongly claims that the city's attempts to vacate the awards are sanctionable.

  • February 29, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Flood Suit Over Cherokee Casino

    A Federal Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday denied an Oklahoma landowner's bid to overturn a lower court's ruling that the federal government isn't liable for flooding damage to her property due to activity at a nearby Cherokee Nation casino, saying that the claim requires proof that the matter is a "direct, natural or probable result" of its actions.

  • February 29, 2024

    Boeing To Pay $51M To End 199 Arms Export Violation Claims

    The Boeing Co. will pay $51 million to resolve nearly 200 export violations that threatened U.S. national security when its foreign employees downloaded and transferred technical data in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, with $24 million to go toward compliance efforts, the U.S. Department of State announced Thursday.

  • February 29, 2024

    Newsom, Tribe Must Negotiate Gambling Pact Under IGRA

    A federal district court judge ruled in favor of a California tribe in its challenge to Gov. Gavin Newsom for failing to negotiate its gambling compact in good faith, saying a Ninth Circuit determination that off-list topics cannot be included in tribal agreements heavily swayed the decision.

  • February 29, 2024

    Colo. Panel Revives Wound Center's Damages Suit

    A Colorado state appellate panel Thursday revived a wound center's lawsuit against a rural healthcare district for payments related to its agreement with the district, finding in a published opinion that there were factual disputes a trial court failed to address in dismissing the wound center's breach of contract claims.

  • February 29, 2024

    NY Tabs Equinor, Orsted Projects For Offshore Wind Deals

    New York officials on Thursday awarded power contracts to offshore wind projects being developed by Equinor and an Orsted-Eversource partnership, the first contracts awarded under a revised bidding process aimed at combating macroeconomic headwinds buffeting U.S. offshore wind development.

  • February 29, 2024

    Watchdog Says Labor Mismatch Dooms Fighter Planes Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office called for the termination of a contract to maintain the Marines' Osprey fighter planes, saying the U.S. General Services Administration hadn't shown that the awardee was pre-qualified to offer the required workers.

  • February 29, 2024

    NJ Panel Says Ex-City Prosecutor Not Eligible For Pension

    A former municipal prosecutor was not a city employee but a professional service provider, a New Jersey appellate panel held Thursday, stripping him of seven years of pension participation and credits.

  • February 28, 2024

    Seminole Sports Gaming Compact Worth $4.4B, Report Says

    An economic research agency in Florida estimated in a recent report that a gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida that is currently pending certiorari review by the U.S. Supreme Court will garner $4.4 billion in new revenues for the state over the next six years.

  • February 28, 2024

    Judge Blocks VA Support Deal Over 'Irrational' Conflict Ruling

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has blocked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from moving forward with a suicide-prevention support contract, finding that it unreasonably cut a bidder from contention based on subcontracting work on a similar deal.

  • February 28, 2024

    Energy Dept. To Give Tribes $25M For Clean Energy Tech

    The U.S. Department of Energy has said it is paying out $25 million in funds to Indigenous tribes for clean energy technology on tribal lands as part of an approximately $366 million Biden administration plan to support community-driven energy projects in rural areas.

  • February 28, 2024

    GAO Says $267M Patent Deal Failed To Meet Requirements

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office sustained an intellectual property research firm's protest of a $267 million deal to help the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office review patent applications, saying the deal's winner didn't meet a clear small business subcontracting requirement.

  • February 28, 2024

    NC Biz Court Pares Feud Over Costly City Streetcar Expansion

    The North Carolina Business Court has narrowed a general contractor's $115 million lawsuit against the city of Charlotte stemming from a streetcar line construction project, saying the city isn't immune but that a swath of claims were otherwise filed too late.

  • February 28, 2024

    Judge Says Ermi Counterclaims In Qui Tam Case Can Stand

    A Georgia federal judge has refused to free Ermi LLC's former chief compliance officer from counterclaims the company lodged in response to her whistleblower suit accusing the company of fraud and retaliation, with the judge saying the company has adequately alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and contract claims.

  • February 28, 2024

    Seattle Convention Center's Virus Losses Not Covered

    A Seattle convention center operator is not owed coverage for pandemic-related business interruption losses, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding that although the governor's emergency pandemic proclamations prohibited access to the convention center, they weren't issued because of physical loss or damage to the property.

Expert Analysis

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Contracts Disputes Recap: Be Mindful Of Termination Clauses

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    Edward Arnold and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine three recent rulings — one from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and two from the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals — that highlight the termination clause as one of the most potent remedy-granting contract clauses.

  • 2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians

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    Two recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General involve different scenarios and rationales, but together they illustrate the OIG's focus on and disapproval of contractual joint ventures and other revenue-maximizing physician arrangements, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Best Practices For Defense Tech Startup Financing

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    Navigating the expanding and highly regulated defense technology sector requires careful planning and execution, starting at incorporation, so startups should prepare for foreign investor issues, choose their funding wisely and manage their funds carefully, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Looking For Defense Contract Appeal Trends In Annual Report

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    A deep dive into the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals annual report for the 2023 fiscal year reveals increases in the number of cases filed, pending motions and expedited or accelerated cases, while the board disposed of fewer cases than in prior fiscal years, say Scott Flesch and Alexandra Prime at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • SolarWinds Ushers In New Era Of SEC Cyber Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against software company SolarWinds Corp. and its chief information security officer is the first time the SEC has ever filed suit over scienter-based fraud involving cybersecurity failures, illustrating that both companies and CISOs need to be extra cautious in how they describe their cybersecurity practices, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Instructions, Jurisdiction, Scrutiny

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Michaela Thornton at MoFo examines three recent protests resolved in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Government Accountability Office that arose from indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awards and offer important reminders about the fundamentals of procurement law.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

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