By Grace Mahan Because a high level of detail allows for substantive comparison between different bids, it is important both in securing contract awards and in the process of protesting awards after unsuccessful bids. A recent GAO protest ruling, Beacon Grace, LLC, recently highlighted the importance of detail in the government contract bidding process. In...
Tag: Bids
The Danger of the “Plug Number” and a Simple Strategy to Avoid Death by Mistake
By Grace Mahan Ideally, prospective contractors make bids for government contracts without error. However, whether because of a clerical oversight or off-the-mark subcontractor bids, mistakes do occur. Often, errors in bids for government contracts result in the forced removal of a bid, or worse, the retroactive reversal of an award. However, as highlighted by a...
Prospective Contractors and Subcontractors: Be Aware of TINA
By Taimur Rabbani Is your business pursuing a U.S. government contract, or seeking to subcontract for a U.S. government contractor? There are several legal and regulatory schemes that you should be aware of that are relevant to this process. Among the most significant of them are the regulations implementing the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA)....
DOD Requires Contract Offerors to Disclose Their Ownership
By Carol L. O’Riordan This is the sixth blog post in our series about new federal regulatory initiatives that are on tap for the first half of 2014. The Department of Defense recently amended the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to add a provision that requires companies offering to perform contracts for DOD to...
Issa Bill Would Create More Problems Than It Would Solve
By Marilyn Della-Badia Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) recently released a discussion draft of a bill entitled the Stop Unworthy Spending or SUSPEND Act. The bill would set up a Board of Civilian Suspension and Debarment to consolidate more than 40 civilian suspension and debarment offices under a single set of regulations, and in Issa’s view,...
Philadelphia Announces New Rules for Minority and Women Preferences in Contracts
We recently wrote here that if a company wants to benefit from government programs that provide for preferences for Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) firms, it needs to be fully aware that different jurisdictions have different certification requirements. Not all city or state governments will accept all MBE or WBE certifications....
A Lawyer’s View of Government Contracts and Litigation, Looking Toward 2013
By Carol L. O’Riordan As we see matters now in two of our principal practice areas – government contracts and litigation – we are at a crossroads as the economic stimulus and two overseas wars wind down. We are approaching the end of the $767 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in 2009 to...
If You’re Active in Federal Contracting, You Need to Meet SAM
MEET SAM. Like many federal contractors, our firm has been following the progress of the System for Award Management (SAM) — a new web portal and records management system for federal contracting. While it was in its development stage, we had our eye on SAM and now the site has launched. SAM’s ambitious and noble...
Bidders Beware: Follow the Government’s Rules or Risk Losing the Contract
Read any bid protest decision issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and you will see that the losers are frequently reminded of their responsibility to submit adequately written and affirmatively stated proposals that clearly and unambiguously demonstrate their strengths in the areas specified by the contracting agency. Even incumbent contractors who have developed...
When There’s a Mistake in a Contract Bid: What You Should Do
There’s been a lot of discussion recently about mistakes in bids for federal contracts. Mistakes can happen, particularly when bidders are rushed (and who isn’t rushed when preparing and submitting a bid?). Mistakes can be minor and waivable at the government’s discretion; they can be subject to correction in certain situations; or they can result...